The Chronicles of Neopia
by Insanedramatic
Summary: A group of Neopians are sent to a dark, desolate future in search of their lost siblings. Only then do they learn of a forgotten prophecy, and an extraordinary destiny. Can they survive? More to come!
1. Prophecy

_**The Chronicles of Neopia**_

**Episode 1: Destiny**

**by: Chadthemartian**

**Part One: **

_Note: Neopets is property of Neopets, Inc. The author would like to thank his great friend Spritzieblue for her help in writing this story. _

_Ten years ago... _

"Long, long ago, Neopia was a barren wasteland," began the Island Mystic, as the audience listened intently, "It was ruled by wild beasts, all devouring and preying upon each other for eons. Then one day, they all vanished somehow. Over the years, various species came and went, but the land was still not habitable for very long. Then, it is said, that eventually, a group of powerful, magical families of creatures from other worlds, whom we call Ancient Ones, came and settled on Neopia. Using patience and enchantments, they gradually made the land habitable, until we got what we now see today as Neopia. Nobody knows for sure what happened to those original inhabitants who began Neopian civilization. There are many legends. Some claim that the magical creatures eventually left Neopia, in search of a new world to tame; others claim that they blended in with new creatures who found their way to the land, and their descendants are still here, living as part of Neopian society."

The Island Mystic bowed as his audience clapped in appreciation of his tale. He was in his Hut, telling a story to tourists. He fared well enough on customers coming to have their fortune told by the mystic, although they often ridiculed his predictions. He occasionally brought groups to the hut and told folk tales and legends, as a way of bringing in extra neopoints.

"Thank you," he commented, "and don't forget to come by sometime and have your fortune told!"

"Yeah, right!" snickered a young Korbat, "What will happen tomorrow? Raining Mortogs?"

"Kyeila!" reprimanded a young Chia standing next to the Korbat, "that's not very nice!" the Chia turned toward the Island Mystic. "Thank you for your story, it was wonderful!" he said politely.

"You are very welcome," said the Mystic, as the group left.

He sat down at his cauldron, and began concentrating. Soon, images began to appear in his mind. Strange images. Suddenly he got a clear vision, very unlike his normal ones. He fell into a trancelike state, and began writing down his vision:

_Far into the future,_

_The world ruled by darkness!_

_Three great evils, formed into one,_

_Are we all doomed? What can be done?_

_Do not fear, do not fret! _

_We will be saved by eight brave Neopets!_

_Not normal pets, no, I say!_

_Ancient magic runs through their veins! _

_The power of the ancients will awaken within,_

_then shall the Faeries unite with them. _

As he finished writing, the Island Mystic came out of his trance. He read the riddle he had written, pondering what meaning it could have. He then put it in a safe place, among his other predictions he was compiling for a book soon to be published. He somehow knew it would be very important someday...

_The Island Mystic just gave a strange prediction. His prophecies are usually completely off-the-wall, but this one could have some significance. Not long after, a few Neopians are enjoying themselves, having a completely normal day. But that is about to change... _


	2. Training Time

**Part Two: **

_The Island Mystic made a strange prophecy, and published it in a book with many of his other predictions. The book became a bestseller, not because of the accuracy of the predictions, but because of the outlandish nature of them, and their incredible ability to not come true. The prophecy was mostly forgotten. Now, let us jump forward ten years, to a group of normal Neopians having a normal day, when something very not-so-normal is about to change their lives... _

_Present day..._

"Come on, Luna, we're gonna miss the ferry to Meridell!" ChibiMartian yelled at his sister as they ran toward the harbor.

"What do you care, Chibi!" Lunamercurie shot back. "You're a Uni, you can fly!"

"Yeah..." began Chibi, ""But we already paid for our classes. If one of us doesn't show up, that will be a waste of a Codestone!"

ChibiMartian looked back at his sister, a younger blue Kougra. She was already physically stronger and many times he had to fight jealousy against Lunamercurie in that respect; he had dreams of becoming a great fighter as a Defender of Neopia someday.

Lunamercurie quickened her steps to catch up with her red Uni brother. If they didn't catch the ferry to Meridell, they'd miss the next ferry to Mystery Island, where they were taking classes at the Mystery Island Training School. Her brother was training in hopes of becoming a great Defender of Neopia, and while she hadn't decided yet whether she had the same destiny, she certainly wanted to be able to defend herself should she need it.

The two of them caught the ferry just in time, catching it just as it was about to leave. They would have missed it, but Luna had to take a giant leap with her Kougra paws to get on deck, and Chibi had to fly to get on. They paid the proper amount of neopoints to the ferryman, and stood on deck, watching the view.

A couple of hours later, the two of them got off the ferry at Meridell. Meridell had once been a great Kingdom. Now all that was left was ruins, a sort of museum, a few hangouts, and a port -- although there were stories of some kind of time portal, where some Neopians had even vanished through. Chibi and Luna looked around the shops and attractions for about thirty minutes while they waited on the departure time for the ferry to Mystery Island to arrive. When it was time, they got on, and an hour later they were on Mystery Island.

"Hello ChibiMartian, Lunamercurie," the Nimmo Training Master said, checking his notes. "Last time, ChibiMartian was at level 3, and Lunamercurie was at level 2. Chibi had the ability of Smoke Screen, and Luna of Healing herself. Anything to update?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," Chibi said, "I've recently been given the ability of 'Fiery Roar' by a Fire Faerie."

"And I was given the protective Bubble ability by a Water Faerie, and I've been increased to level 3 by the Coltzan Shrine," Luna added.

"Congratulations to both of you," the wise Nimmo responded, updating his notes, "Now, let us begin."

For two hours, Luna and Chibi both trained diligently on defense. Finally, it was time to go.

Back in Meridell, they were waiting on the ferry back to Neopia Central, where they lived, to arrive. They looked at some more of the attractions. When it was time, they got on the ferry back to Neopia Central.

_Coming up next: Trouble on the ferry,_ _and a fierce Battledome fight! Who will win?_


	3. Battledome

**Part Three:**

_Last time, we left Chibi and Luna on the ferry home. Now, Chibi must face a battle in the Battledome. Can he survive?_

EmeraldMount, a green Kougra, turned to his sister, Lilbasketballbabe, "Boy, I'm tired. We've had a long day."

"Yeah," Lil replied, "My feet hurt."

"We'll be home soon," Spritzieblue told Lil, "You can see it from here."

"You can? I want to see. I'm going to go closer to the edge," Lil said excitedly as she ran to the side of the ferry.

"Watch out!" Koorite called to her.

She turned around to look at him, and ended up running into someone. Not knowing what to do, Lil slowly backed up. When she was a safe distance away, she ran behind Spritzie. Lil always looked to Spritzie, a blue Shoyru, for protection.

Chibi felt someone bump into him. He turned around and saw a small, red Jubjub staring up at him in embarrassment from behind a blue Shoyru. Behind them, a green Kougra, and a blue Lupe were looking at them. "Watch where you're going!" he said to the Jubjub.

"She didn't mean it," Luna said. "Hi, my name is Lunamercurie. Luna for short." she introduced herself to the Jubjub and the Shoyru. "Ignore my brother ChibiMartian, he's all talk."

Koorite, the blue Lupe, stepped forward and looked Luna over skeptically. Luna began to get nervous, as the Lupe looked her over, searching her for deception.

"Honest, it's ok," she said. "My name is Luna, and that's my brother Chibi." she pointed to her brother.

Chibi walked forward. "Don't look at my sister like that," he said defensively to the Lupe. "We both go to the Training School, you know."

"So what? That doesn't make you any better than us," Koorite snapped.

"Wanna bet?" Chibi growled, nearing the Lupe.

"Chibi, don't do anything stupid!" Luna warned.

Emerald jumped between them, "Come on you guys. It doesn't have to come to this."

Luna walked up and stood beside Emerald. "Thank you," She said brightly. She looked to the others. "You are all acting like a bunch of spoiled children. This is getting us nowhere!"

Koorite looked at Chibi and muttered, "You wouldn't stand a chance against any of us..."

"Right..." Chibi said sarcastically. "Let's see about that. Who wants to fight me in the Battledome?"

Koorite turned his head, "Spritzie?"

She shrugged, "Sure, why not."

Chibi looked at the blue Shoyru. "So you're Spritzie?" he asked. "Works for me. My name is ChibiMartian, Chibi for short. So you know your defeater. How about as soon as we dock we go to the Battledome?"

"Of course, Chibi. For your sake, I hope you're as good as you think you are," Spritzie replied casually.

"Very well then. Just give me an hour to go home long enough to get my equipment, and I'll meet you there," Chibi said. Luna looked at her brother, exasperated.

An hour later, they were all at the Battledome waiting for the fight. Chibi stood in front of Spritzie, awaiting her attack, equipment at the ready. Luna sat with the others, watching anxiously. Spritzie threw a poison snowball at Chibi. Chibi got hit by the snowball, losing some strength. He put on his Silver Arm Plate, and attacked with an Electric Buzz.

Luna walked up beside the green Kougra. "I'm sorry he's acting like this," She said, "Anyways, what is your name? Are these others your siblings?" she asked.

"I'm EmeraldMount. And Spritzie is my older sister. The Jubjub is my big sister, Lilbasketballbabe, but we call her Lil. And the Lupe is my brother, Koorite," Emerald replied.

"I see," Luna said, glancing at the others around them, and shooting a nervous glance at Chibi. "Chibi and I also have a younger sister, Sunskyes. She's a yellow Ixi. And we have a younger brother, Gryffinstormie. We call him Gryffin for short. He's a green Eyrie." She watched as Chibi kept shooting buzz attacks at Spritzie.

Spritzie equipped herself with the fire gem and was able to protect herself from Chibi's fire attacks. Chibi ran up to Spritzie and kicked her with his Uni Kick. He then shot her with the Rainbow Gun. Spritzie used her water ring and aimed it at Chibi. Chibi got blasted with water from the water ring. He was now too weak to fight. The Silver Arm Plate didn't help him, as he was caught off guard and didn't have it up. He stood up weakly. "Good fight..." he said, forcing the words out. "We should hang out sometime." He walked up to the Jubjub and the others. "I'm sorry about the way I acted. My name is ChibiMartian. Everybody calls me Chibi. And this is my sister Luna, the blue Kougra. What are your names?"

Chibi dug through his sack and pulled out a healing potion. He quickly drank it, restoring him to full health.

"I'm Spritzieblue. This is my sister, Lilbasketballbabe, or Lil. Then this is my brother, Koorite. And…"

"And I'm EmeraldMount," He looked at Luna and smiled, "But you can call me Emerald."

Luna smiled back. "Nice to meet all of you." she said. "Where do you all live? We live in Neopia Central."

"So do we!" Emerald said excitedly. "What street?"

"Winding Wood Drive," answered Luna.

"Neopia Avenue here," said Emerald.

"Maybe we can hang out sometime, then," Luna answered happily.

Chibi interrupted, "But Luna and I need to get home now. We should have been home an hour ago."

"We'd better be heading home too, "Spritzie replied, "We'll walk you home."

"Ok," Chibi said.

They walked the approximately thirty minute walk to their Neohomes. "See you later." Chibi said as Spritzie, Lil, Koorite, and Emerald entered their home.

"Bye everyone," Luna said. "Bye Emerald." and with that, they went home.

_Chibi and Luna went home, happy to have met new friends. But when they arrive home, they find tragedy has struck. What else will go wrong?_


	4. Tragedy

**Part Four:**

_Last time, Chibi challenged Spritzieblue the Shoyru to a Battledome fight. After losing, he and Luna became friends with Spritzie and her siblings - EmeraldMount the Kougra, Koorite the Lupe, and Lilbasketballbabe the Jubjub. Now, that friendship may become useful... _

When Luna and Chibi got home, they were surprised to find a Chia Cop waiting for them. "Is everything ok, Sir?" Chibi asked.

"Some kids went camping a couple of days ago, and your younger siblings were with them, right? In the Haunted Woods?"

"That's right," Luna answered. "They're supposed to be home today."

"Well, the owners of some of the others have reported them missing," the cop replied grimly, "We're trying to get all the facts together so that we can form a search party."

Luna sat down in astonishment. "You're going to find them, right?" she asked.

"We're going to do the best we can," answered the Chia. "Now could you please describe your siblings and give their names?"

"Gryffinstormie is a male green Eyrie," answered Chibi, "And Sunskyes is a female yellow Ixi."

The cop wrote some notes down as they talked. "Thank you for your time. We'll let you know if we find anything," with that, he left.

Luna sat at the table, crying. "What if they don't find them?" she sobbed.

"They won't," Chibi said. "The system is crappy. That's why I'm going out there to look for them."

"I'm going with you!" Luna said. "What if you get lost too?"

"If you go with me, and I get lost, then you'll be lost too," Chibi answered back.

"We can tell someone where we're going," answered Luna. "We can tell Emerald. Then if we turn up missing, he can tell them where to look."

After some hesitation, Chibi gave in, and they walked quietly back to their friends' home. When they got there, Chibi flew silently around the windows, and when he found the window to Emerald's room, he tapped it lightly with his horn.

Emerald heard a tapping noise in his sleep. He woke up. "I wonder what that is."

He sat up and looked around. He looked to his window and saw Chibi hovering outside. Emerald quietly slipped out of bed and went to his window. He slowly slid it open. "Chibi, what are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you. Can you meet me out front?"

"Uh, sure. I'll be down in a minute."

Emerald watched as Chibi disappeared around the house. Emerald closed the window and then silently tiptoed down the hallway, trying not to wake anyone. He crept down the stairs and out the door. When he got outside, he saw Chibi and Luna sitting in the grass. When he got closer, he saw that Luna was crying. He ran to her. "Luna, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

She turned away from him. He looked up at Chibi questioningly, "What's going on, Chibi?"

Chibi looked down. He looked up at Emerald and started, "My little brother and sister… they're missing."

Luna started quietly sobbing. Emerald put his paw around her as he listened to Chibi. "They went on a group camping trip. The whole group has disappeared."

"Where'd they go camping at?"

"The Haunted Woods," Luna sobbed.

"Have you guys talked to the authorities?"

They nodded. Emerald noticed the backpacks Luna and Chibi were carrying.

"What are those?" he asked.

"Our equipment and some food," Chibi answered. "Luna and I are going to go look for them. We came here to tell you, so that someone would know where to look if we didn't come back either."

"Hold on a minute," Emerald said. He went back to his house, quietly back to his room. He got his own backpack, put some equipment in it, then went downstairs to the kitchen. He wrote a note to his family, telling them what was going on.

"What are you doing?" Luna asked when Emerald re-emerged from the house.

"I'm going with you," he said. "I left the others a note. I'm not letting you do this on your own." he looked at Luna, his eyes unwavering.

"Are you sure?" Luna asked. "I don't want anything to happen to you too. I mean, it'd be our fault, and your family would miss you."

"I take responsibility for myself, you'd be of no fault," Emerald answered.

_When we return, the group faces the deadly Haunted Woods. Will they survive long enough to find Sunskyes and Gryffinstormie?_


	5. The Search Begins

**Part Five:**

_Chibi, Luna, and Emerald have gone into the Haunted Woods in search for the Ixi, the Eyrie, and their companions. They will soon learn, however, that it is easier said than done..._

They hiked halfway through the night. By then, they decided it was time to sleep. The entrance to the Haunted Woods was just becoming visible in the horizon. They sat down their backpacks.

"Um, Chibi..." Luna began. "What are we going to sleep on? We don't have tents, blankets, anything."

"We'll have to sleep on the ground," Chibi said grimly. "I'm going to look horrible in the morning."

They arose at the break of dawn. After about 30 minutes, they had reached the entrance to the Woods.

"Well, this is it," Chibi said. "The point of no return." The trio entered the Haunted Woods, overcoming their fears.

Almost as soon as they entered, it became dark. The trees were so thick the branches hid the sunlight. Strange insects scurried from beneath their feet to escape being stepped on. The trees seemed to be staring at them.

Luna looked around. "Emerald, keep your eyes, nose, and ears open for anything that could come our way. Chibi, keep your eyes open as well. " She said, putting her nose to the ground. "I'm going to try to find Gryffin and Sunskyes' scent."

The trio wandered around, until finally Luna picked up the scents of her younger brother and sister. They followed it until they came to a small river. "Great." Luna complained. "I think they crossed the river. I'll have to look for their scent all over again."

"That won't be too hard," Emerald said. "It's a small river." He walked into the river, and peered into the waters. Suddenly, he lunged with his claws and mouth. A moment later, he walked out of the water with a fish in his mouth. "We may as well take this opportunity to eat. " he said, dropping his food on the ground.

"You're going to eat _that_?" Chibi said disgustedly, as he and Luna put down their packs and got out some of the food they had packed.

"Well, I was in such a rush I forgot to pack anything to eat," Emerald answered. "But I don't mind. My family and I go camping a lot, and we catch our own food. Makes it more fun."

After lunch, the three crossed the river, and soon, Luna had found the trail again. After a few hours, they had followed it to a long, old, rickety bridge, over a tall cliff.

"This looks dangerous..." Luna began.

"Nah, it's fine," Chibi said, starting across the bridge. "If they could make it across, we can."

They were walking, about halfway across the bridge. "Wait." Emerald said. They stopped in their tracks.

"What is it, Emerald?" Luna asked.

"I smell something coming nearby. I can't quite tell what it is," Emerald answered, caution in his voice.

Suddenly, they heard laughter. Not loud, but not too quiet either. It was a giggling, evil laugh.

"Darkness Faeries!" Luna cried out, seeing them with her keen Kougra eyes against the trees. Four evil, cackling faeries raced towards the group.

"Something is in their hands!" Emerald shouted, seeing one of them holding something. "Run!"

They began racing to get to the other side of the bridge. Suddenly, they saw the faeries speed past them, two on each end of the bridge. There was a slicing sound as they flew past, and the bridge, with its ropes cut in half, collapsed.

After a couple of seconds, Chibi pulled up enough strength to catch his balance and begin flying. Luna used her long claws and gripped the side of the cliff, on the edge of a rock. Emerald attempted to do likewise, but was too far out, and couldn't reach it.

"Chibi!" Luna cried out. "Catch Emerald!"

Chibi raced down, flying at an incredible speed, until he finally caught up with Emerald. He tried to carry him on his back, but their packs were in the way.

"Drop your sack!" Chibi ordered, as he dropped his own. Emerald obeyed, and Chibi was finally able to fly up the cliff wall.

Chibi dropped off Emerald, then went back for Luna. Luna was barely holding onto the rock, her claws slipping, when Chibi caught up. She had to drop her equipment sack as well, but he managed to get her up.

When they were on solid ground again, Luna and Chibi sat down with relief. After resting a moment, Luna ran up and hugged Emerald. "I'm glad you're ok," she said. She then went to Chibi, and thanked him for saving them.

"We should get back on the trail," Emerald said.

"There goes our equipment," Chibi said sulkily.

"But we're alive, at least," Luna answered.

They followed the trail until darkness. It was hard enough to navigate in daylight, since the sun was nearly completely blocked out. It was impossible by night. So, once darkness came, they found some wood, and after a few tries, started a fire, and settled in for the night. Just as they were drifting off to sleep, they heard voices. "Ouch, you just stepped on my foot!" A little voice exclaimed.

"Well, maybe if your feet weren't so big…"

"You two, stop it. This isn't the time or place to be bickering."

"But, he…"

"Look. I know we're all tired, but we need to keep it together if we're ever going to find them."

Emerald looked at Chibi and Luna. "I'm going to go get a closer look. Stay here."

He snuck up and hid behind some trees. He peeked around the trunk of the tree. There he saw Spritzie, Koorite, and Lil. "Spritzie, you guys are here!" Emerald exclaimed as he jumped out from behind the tree.

Lil and Koorite jumped back and screamed. "You guys, it's only Emerald," Spritzie said calmly.

"And you were scared, Koorite," Lil taunted.

"Heh, I knew it was him all along. I was just acting scared," Koorite said proudly.

"That's a lie and you know..."

"Ahem," Spritzie said looking at them.

They all ran to Emerald. "We're glad you're okay, Emerald," Lil said contently as Emerald hugged her.

Koorite walked up to him and playfully punched him, "It's good to see that you're all right."

Emerald could feel eyes gazing into his back. He turned around to see Spritzie staring coldly at him. At first he was puzzled, but then he realized what he had done. He hung his head low as he walked over to Spritzie. He could tell she was displeased with his actions. Spritzie was the unspoken leader of the group. She was always watching out for everyone. "I'm…I'm sorry, Spritzie, but Chibi and Luna were going to come by themselves and I didn't think it was safe for them to go alone."

"It's all right, Emerald. You did what you thought was best. Just next time, wake me up."

"Okay. Well, we have a fire going, why don't you guys come join us?"

"Okay."

They all followed Emerald back to the others. That night, they were all so tired, nobody asked any questions as to how the Shoyru, Jubjub, and Lupe found the Uni and two Kougras. The next morning, they woke up very early, and the two Kougras caught some food for themselves and Chibi, as the three of them had lost their food on the cliff.

"Why did you come looking for us?" Chibi asked Spritzie.

"We figured that you guys could use as much help as you could get. These woods are dangerous. Plus the more of us that are looking, the sooner we find your siblings and bring them home safely," Spritzie replied.

"So how did you find us?" Chibi asked.

"Well, I have Koorite to thank for that. With his great sense of smell we were able to track you down."

_So the group survived one mishap on their quest, and even found help. But, can they survive the rest?_


	6. Invasion of the Clowns

**Part Six:**

_The group has just survived an attack by four devious Dark Faeries. But now, they will face something that is no laughing matter... _

Together, the group continued following the scent of the Eyrie and the Ixi through the forest, stopping only for lunch.

Around mid afternoon, they had found themselves at the Haunted Carnival. "They went in here..." said Luna, "I have a bad feeling about what's on the other side of those gates."

"Well, let's get whatever it is over with, if they went through here," said Chibi, slowly starting for the gate.

Luna slowly followed her brother. Emerald and Lil all looked at Spritzie. "Ummm, go ahead, guys."

Lil and Emerald looked at each other. They had never seen Spritzie be afraid of something. They all just stood there. Koorite rolled his eyes. "Come on, you guys. There's nothing to be afraid of. Let's go," He said as he started after Chibi and Luna. Emerald ran to catch up with Luna. Emerald looked around cautiously as Luna followed her siblings' scent. Suddenly, she stopped dead in her tracks. Emerald wasn't watching and ran into her. "Wha… what's wrong, Luna?" He asked her.

"Their scent…"

"What about it, Luna? Did you find where they went?" Chibi asked quickly.

"No. Their scent. It's all over here. They've been in all directions," She sat down, devastated, "How will we ever find them now?"

"Maybe if we split…" Chibi started.

"No!" Spritzie interrupted, "That's not a good idea. Not here. We need to all stay together."

Everyone nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you're right, Spritzie," Chibi said finally, "But now what?"

Emerald stepped forward, "I say we pick a direction and head that way first."

"How about… left?" Koorite asked.

"Let's go with that," Chibi responded.

They all walked further ahead. They heard an evil cackle in the distance. As they got closer, Lil exclaimed, "It's Sidney!"

Sidney saw them and cackled, "Wanna buy some pegs, Dave?"

Koorite, Spritzie, and Chibi looked at each other. "Come on, let's go," They said, pushing the rest of them along.

They kept running until he was no longer in sight. "Whew," Lil sighed.

"I don't like this place," Luna said softly.

Chibi walked up to her, "Don't worry, Luna. We'll find Gryffin and Sun, and then we'll be able to go home."

Spritzie looked around, "What's that in the distance?"

They all turned around to look. Emerald used his keen eyes to look into the distance, "It looks like a tent."

Luna jumped up, "Do you know what this could mean?"

"What, Luna?" Chibi asked, looking at her.

"Maybe that's where they are. Maybe they went into the tent for shelter during one of the rain storms."

"You're right," Chibi said, "It's worth a shot. Let's go."

All of them scurried down the hill to the tent. They paused outside. "Spooky Furniture? Do you think they would be in here?" Chibi asked.

"We have to try, Chibi," Luna whispered hopefully.

"Eh, look at the coffin," Koorite said as he studied it.

"Come on, let's go," urged Luna.

"How about some of us stay out here?" Spritzie asked, "Just to keep an eye out for them."

"Good idea, Spritzie. Emerald and I will go inside, the rest of you can stay here."

Emerald and Luna walked towards the door, side by side. Luna paused before they entered. Emerald looked at her, his face filled with concern. She nodded, then started walking in. Emerald followed closely behind her. They got inside and looked around. There was wooden furniture in the shape of coffins everywhere. Luna shivered. Then in the back of the store, they saw a small teal Grundo with red eyes wearing a long black cloak. Luna started walking around the store. Emerald stayed close to her, while keeping his eyes on the shopkeeper. "I don't think they're here, Luna."

"I know. Let's go ask the shopkeeper."

"Uh…"

Before he could stop her, Luna was heading towards the counter. He could do nothing, but stand with her. He followed her up to the counter. "Ummm, excuse me," She said meekly.

The teal Grundo looked up at her. She stepped back. "Ummm, have you seen a yellow Ixi and green Eyrie?"

He didn't say anything. His eyes flashed red. Luna started backing away. "Uh, never mind, I'll just…" she muttered as she turned around and ran out of the shop.

Emerald looked at the shopkeeper, then ran after her. When they got outside, everyone looked at them. They saw the look of horror on Luna's face. Chibi stepped forward. "What's wrong?"

"Can we just get away from here?" She asked as she quickly walked away.

Everyone followed her. "What happened?" Chibi inquired.

Emerald went on to tell them what had happened. "I don't like this place," Lil said, breaking the silence.

"Me either," Koorite agreed.

"Let's focus on finding them, so we can get out of here," Spritzie declared.

Everyone agreed. They started up a steep hill. After a short climb, they came to the Wheel of Misfortune. They searched all around it. There were no signs of Sun or Gryffin. "I'm getting hungry," Emerald said as he lay down in the grass, exasperated.

"Me too," Luna said as she lay down beside Emerald and set her head on his back.

The rest of the group sat down to rest. Spritzie got out her pack, "We should get something to eat. Between Koorite, Lil, and I, we should be able to share what we have between us."

Lil and Koorite got out their food and passed it around so that everyone got some. After they had eaten and rested a bit, they decided to keep moving. They walked across an empty field. Soon they came to the foot of the mountain. All of a sudden, Koorite stopped and his ears perked up.

"What's the matter?" Lil asked.

"I hear something," Koorite said cautiously, smelling around. "I can smell it as well..."

Suddenly, three Chia Clowns came up, laughing frantically.

"You dare enter our Carnival?" snarled one of them. "You shall pay the price!"

"What do we do!" cried Luna.

"We have no choice..." answered Spritzie, becoming suddenly brave once again. "We fight!"

The three Chia Clowns approached.

"We outnumber them two to one," said Emerald. "We can do this."

Together, Emerald and Luna ran toward one of the clowns. The Chia tickled them both with powerful feathers. Emerald slashed at it with his claws, as Luna used her power to heal herself of some of her injuries. Emerald pelted it with pebbles he had levitated off the ground. He toughened his skin to make himself more resistant to the Chia's attacks. Luna did the same by projecting a small Bubble Shield around her. A final Kougra scratch from both, and the Chia fell to its death.

A slight distance away, Chibi and Koorite were fighting another Chia. Chibi gave it a massive Uni Kick as it sprayed them with a large amount of water from a flower on its chest. Koorite clawed at it and bit at it with its large Lupe teeth, and then sent small sparks at it. Chibi used his Fiery Roar, and the Chia stopped dead in its tracks. Another swipe with his claw, and Koorite had finished this one off.

The third Chia Clown was battling Lil and Spritzie. It seemed a little weaker than the other two, smaller. It spat out a blast of water at Spritzie, but her Bubble Shield protected her. Lil roared with her fiery roar. Soon, the two had finished it off as well.

Slowly, the six regrouped. "Is everyone ok?" Spritzie asked, her eyes darting to the others. One by one they nodded their heads. The small Jubjub was crying.

"I've... I've never killed anyone before," Lil sobbed. "I'm a murderer!"

"No, you're not," said Koorite forcefully, as though trying to make himself believe it as well. "We fought in self-defense. Those things were evil."

"Ok..." began Luna, looking at Chibi and Emerald. "How can we pick up their scent again? Especially when it goes several different places?"

"I guess we'll have to follow it everywhere, and see what happens," said Chibi dully. "How tedious."

_Our friends are growing weary from searching for so long. Will they ever find the missing Neopians? _


	7. Meuka and the Faerie Queen

**Part Seven:**

_After overcoming evil Darkness Faeries and bizarre Chia Clowns, the Neopians are still searching for Sun and Gryffin. But now, they will face something much more dangerous, and their quest will take on an unexpected twist... _

Through the course of the rest of the afternoon, they followed the scents of Gryffinstormie and Sunskyes through the Haunted Carnival. They walked past empty tents, odd-looking and deserted roller coasters, and strange, creaking booths, until finally they found they were at the exit again.

"Good, they went this way!" said Luna, following the trail out of the Carnival and deeper into the Fairgrounds. "I am _so _glad to get out of there!"

After about an hour, they stopped to eat. They were still in the very large, Deserted Fairgrounds. They ate some more of the food Spritzie, Lil, and Koorite had packed, and were each given Healing Potions by them to drink.

"Where do you get all these Healing Potions?" asked Chibi with awe. "I drank my only one when I fought Spritzie in the Battledome!"

"We stock up for emergency situations," said Emerald. "We don't fight very often."

After eating, they set off again. Around dusk, they found themselves on the other end of the Deserted Fairgrounds.

"This place is even creepier than the Carnival of Terror," said Lil nervously, sticking close to Spritzie.

"Well, they went in here," said Luna angrily. "Why did Gryffinstormie and Sunskyes and their friends have to be such thrill-seekers?"

"We've never been much better, Luna," chuckled Chibi.

"In any case," began Emerald, "I'm keeping my eyes and ears alert, we all need to stay together."

They followed the scent for a few minutes when it happened. Koorite and Emerald both perked their ears up, and Luna stopped in her tracks. "What is that?" she asked, picking up the same foul scent and dripping sound her friends had picked up.

Before they had a chance to answer, Lil screamed with terror, looking at the entrance to the Fairgrounds. Standing there at the entrance was a Meerca, whose body was dripping with mucus and saliva. Its eyes were barely visible through the horrible layer of smelly mucus, and it had large, clenching yellow teeth, which had twigs sticking out of it as though the creature had just eaten an entire tree.

"It's Meuka!" cried out Luna, edging closer to Emerald.

"We can take it on!" cried out Chibi, charging toward the monster.

"No!" Luna cried out

"You can't!" cried Koorite. But it was too late.

Chibi ran toward Meuka, his horn aimed for its chest. Laughing, Meuka reared back and spat a thick layer of mucus and saliva at him. The spit wad caught Chibi in the head, throwing him back several feet onto the ground. He lay there motionless.

In rage, Luna sprang towards the mutated Meerca. Emerald followed closely behind. Meuka stretched out his hand, and from his palm flung a sticky ball of mucus at Luna, which hit her in the midsection, immobilizing her legs, paralyzing her.

Meuka took aim and flung another sticky sphere at Emerald. Emerald dodged it and, using his claws, climbed up the trunk of a nearby pole. Lil, Spritzie, and Koorite began racing towards Meuka. Emerald jumped off of the pole, claws outstretched, onto Meuka's back. Meuka let out a roar of pain as Emerald's claws embedded into his skin. Emerald let out a roar of frustration as he realized his paws were stuck in the mucus that made up the Meerca's body. Meuka grabbed Emerald with his tail, pulled him off of his back, and threw him several feet, leaving him tied in a rope of slime.

Spritzie flew up into the air with her powerful Shoyru wings. Koorite attempted to make his way behind Meuka, whose attention was on Lil. Lil roared with her Fiery Roar, and curled up into a ball, and started rolling toward Meuka. Meuka threw another ball of slime at Lil, completely engulfing her in mucus. Noticing Koorite behind him, he lashed out with his long tail, tangling Koorite in a vine of slime. Meuka looked up and saw Spritzie dive bombing toward him in the air. He spat out another ball of saliva at her, knocking her to the ground.

Meuka surveyed the scene, laughing. The unconscious Chibi's head was covered in spit and mucus; Luna was writhing on the ground, trying to free her legs and waist from the slime; Emerald and Koorite were tied up in Meuka's mucus ropes; Lil was stuck inside a ball of mucus, slowly suffocating; and Spritzie was on the ground, covered in spit. "Lunchtime..." announced Meuka, with his slimy, rattling voice.

Suddenly, four ghosts appeared. The spirits of a Cybunny, a Kau, an Aisha, and a Mynci floated among the group, whispering haunting words of encouragement as Meuka watched curiously.

"Don't be afraid..." whispered the Cybunny.

"You will not be taken, like we were," declared the Kau.

" But we were not all taken. Two of our number escaped," said the Aisha.

"You must find them!" cried out the Mynci. Then, as mysteriously as they had come, the spirits vanished.

Before Meuka could react, however, a speeding orb of light soared around each of the six struggling Neopians. It slashed the mucus-ropes tying Emerald and Koorite. Magically, it freed Chibi and Lil of their prisons. It freed Luna and Spritzie of their bonds. Slowly, they stood up. Luna ran over to try to awaken Chibi, as the orb turned and faced Meuka.

"It's a Battle Faerie!" a surprised Lil exclaimed. The Faerie turned to them, sword still pointed at Meuka.

"Go, now!" she commanded, her voice determined and echoing. "The ones you seek are through the tree!"

Spritzie looked around. There, at the other end of the Fairgrounds, was a tree. Inside the tree was an opening, marked by a clown's head, with the hole in the tree being inside the mouth. "In that?" she questioned, pointing at it. Luna helped the now awake Chibi to his feet.

"Yes!" cried out the Battle Faerie. "Now, GO!" she commenced making slashing motions at Meuka, making him back up, as the six Neopians ran off to the place where the Battle Faerie said to go.

One by one, they went through the Clown Entrance, Chibi and Luna taking the lead.

"Gryf? Sun? Gryffin?" called out Chibi.

"Sunskyes? Gryffinstormie?" cried Luna. There was no answer. They kept walking forward. As they did, they felt a lurching in their stomachs, and colors danced in their eyes. Then, just as quickly, they were walking out of the clown face. Luna gave a small gasp.

"What happened?" she questioned. "The Deserted Fairgrounds looks even more deserted!"

The Deserted Fairgrounds looked vastly different from what it had just moments ago. The Wheel of Misfortune was toppled over. The buildings had crumbled to the ground. The tents had great holes in them from age, rotting, and moths. The very tree they had just walked out of was bare of any vegetation. The gates had vines growing up them.

Slowly, they came out into the open, looking around in awe.

"ChibiMartian? Lunamercurie?" said a voice. Chibi and Luna looked around, searching for the source of the voices. Through the gates stepped a yellow Ixi and a green Eyrie.

"Sunskyes! Gryffinstormie!" cried out Luna. She, Chibi, and the others ran up toward the newcomers. Luna, Gryffin, Sun, and Chibi hugged each other happily.

"How did you get here?" cried out Sun.

"How did you?" answered Chibi. Luna told them everything that had happened in the past few days, and Gryffin filled them in on the events of their camping trip.

"You two were the only survivors?" asked Spritzie sadly, listening to their story. "How did you get away from Meuka?"

"The Battle Faerie saved us and sent us through here," answered Gryffin. "When we came through the clown face, we were so confused, so we've been sitting here since, hoping someone would find us. Meuka got our friends before the Battle Faerie got to us."

"Who were your friends?" asked Lil.

"They were a Cybunny, an Aisha, a Kau, and a Mynci," answered Sun, now crying.

They all looked at each other. "What?" Gryffin asked.

Chibi went on to tell them about their friends' spirits. Spritzie looked around, "What happened? Everything looks so different."

"I… I don't know," Lil whispered.

"It's like we're not even in the same time," Koorite said thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Chibi asked.

"I mean, maybe we're somewhere in the future."

Before anyone could reply, a lavender orb appeared before them. Slowly the light spread until the shape of a faerie could be seen. Slowly the light faded. They gasped as they saw the Faerie Queen standing in front of them. "My name is Fyora. I am the Faerie Queen. I must speak with you."

With that, she snapped her fingers and there was a flash of light. Next thing they knew, they were all in the throne room of the Faerie Queen's palace. She looked at them. They were all huddled close together. "There's no need to be afraid," She said calmly as she seated herself on her throne. A white Angelpuss slept quietly beside the throne.

They all stood in silence. Finally Spritzie stepped forward. "What's going on? Where are we?" She asked.

"You are in the future," The Faerie Queen said.

"Why are we here?"

"There was a prophecy made by the Island Mystic about eight young Neopets that would save Neopia from darkness."

"I've read about that," Koorite said, "But what does that have to do with us?"

"I have reason to believe that you are those eight."

They all looked at each other. "Us?" Chibi asked in astonishment.

"Yes. But to be sure, you must complete a few quests for me."

"What do you need us to get?" Emerald asked.

"Whatever it is, we can get it," Chibi said proudly.

"I need you to get me a Mosaic Negg," Fyora told them.

"Cool," Koorite responded, "That should be pretty simple."

"But…" She started.

"There's more to it?" Luna asked.

"Yes. You must get me the Mosaic Negg that is possessed by Vira."

"Vira?" Lil asked in fear.

"Yes. It will not be easy, but if you are the chosen, you will succeed."

"And if we're not?" Sun asked.

"Then there is the possibility that you will not retrieve the Negg."

They looked at her in shock. "But you must try your best. This is for the well-being and safety of Neopia and all Neopians." she added.

_The group has finally united with Sun and Gryffin, only to find themselves in a strange, dark age, and be thrust into a new, dangerous mission by none other than the Faerie Queen herself. Can they succeed?_


	8. Grim Predictions

**Part Eight: **

_Having escaped from the grotesque Meuka and jumped forward in time, the Neopians now set out on a mission that will face them against the mysterious Vira... _

Chibi stepped forward. "Let's do this. We can handle it," He said firmly.

Everyone nodded in agreement. "Let's go," Emerald stated with determination.

Gryffin asked, "Where do we find Vira?"

"All I can tell you is that she will be found in Neopia Central. Now hurry, you must go quickly."

She handed them mics so they could communicate. She then snapped her fingers and there was a flash of light. The group appeared in Neopia Central. They looked around. Everything was run down. Many of the shops were destroyed and the remaining were closed. The bank had gone bankrupt and the group saw bankrupt signs on the door. There were no other Neopians in sight. It was deserted.

They made their way to the Rainbow Pool. They all gasped as they caught sight of the Pool. It was no longer a colorful sight, the Pool was blackened and the rainbow had turned shades of gray.

"This must be Vira's doing," grumbled Koorite.

"Yes, but where do we find her?" asked Gryffin.

"Maybe there," Luna said, pointing to a tall, dark tower in the distance.

"Come on, let's find out," Spritzie said bravely.

They started walking towards the tower. On the way, they came onto Winding Wood Drive. "This is where we live," Sun said.

Luna stopped dead in her tracks and gasped. They all looked up. "Well, at least where we used to live," Chibi said grimly, staring at what used to be their home.

In front of them was a huge pile of rubble. Broken bricks and wood pieces were everywhere. They were covered in dirt and soot. "What's happened to our home?" asked Luna through tears.

"Come on, let's move on," said Emerald comfortingly.

They moved on to Neopia Avenue. Emerald, Spritzie, Koorite, and Lil's looked the same. Emerald started to walk through the rubble. He stopped suddenly when he saw what was ahead of him. It was a small grave. He was scared to look at the gravestone. "Oh no," he thought, "Someone's died." He looked at the gravestone. It said:

_Here lies our beloved Lilbasketballbabe. Lil bravely gave her life in an attempt to save Neopia from evil. She will be remembered always for her selflessness._

A tear streamed down Emerald's cheek. Luna, Spritzie, and Koorite came up behind him. When Luna saw his tears she immediately became concerned. "Emerald, what's wrong?" She asked.

"Yeah, are you okay?" Koorite asked as he got closer.

Emerald pointed to Lil's grave. Koorite, Spritzie, and Luna read the stone. "Oh no," Luna whispered. She looked horrified.

"What should we do now?" Koorite asked. There was a long silence.

"WAIT! This is the future. We can change this! We can save Lil!" Spritzie exclaimed.

"Yes, you're right, Spritzie," Koorite said, "but we have to retrieve that Negg to do it."

"Then let's go get it," said Emerald with determination. "But we can't let Lil find out about this."

They all agreed. They went back to the others and continued on. When they came near the tower, they stopped. "Great!" Lil exclaimed, "Now what do we do? She has a moat around it."

Koorite studied it, "We can get past it."

"How, Koorite?" Sun asked.

"Spritzie, Chibi, and Gryffin can fly across."

"Yeah, and we can each carry someone," Gryffin added.

"But that leaves two of us," Lil said.

Luna looked at the moat, "It's not very wide. Emerald and I could jump across."

Emerald nodded in agreement. "Okay," Spritzie said, taking charge, "I can take Koorite. Chibi, you take Lil. And Gryffin can take Sun."

"Okay, that works. Let's do this," Koorite said strongly.

They went into action. Emerald and Luna took giant leaps and landed safely on the other side. They waited for the others to come. Soon, they were all together again. "All right," Spritzie told them, "Once we get inside, we have to be extra careful. We don't know what to expect. She could have guards. Are you guys ready for this?"

They all said yes. "Wait," Lil said quickly.

What, Lil?" Chibi asked.

"It's going to be hard for us to get through the tower undetected if we're in a large group. We should split up into smaller groups. Then we can move through it faster."

"That's a great idea, Lil," Koorite told her, "I think we should go in groups of two."

"Luna and I will go together," Emerald stated.

"Sun can go with me," Gryffin commented.

"I'll go with Koorite," Lil added.

"Well, that leaves Chibi and I. Are we ready now?" Spritzie replied.

They nodded. Spritzie stepped to the door. She tried the knob. It was locked. She looked back at them. "Watch out, Spritzie. I can handle this," Koorite said as he moved towards the door.

He sent a few sparks at the knob. There was a crackling sound, then silence. Spritzie tried the knob again. It was still locked. She looked at Koorite. Koorite stepped up and swiped it with his claw. There was a click, and Koorite opened the door. They all walked in. "All right. Let's split up," Gryffin said.

They all divided up and went in separate directions. Emerald and Luna went up to the top level; Koorite and Lil went to the third; Spritzie and Chibi went to the second; and Sun and Gryffin stayed on the first.

Sun and Gryffin found themselves in the kitchen. To their surprise there was no one there. "I'm glad we're the only ones in here," said Sun with a sigh of relief.

"Don't let your guard down completely," Gryffin said, "They may be hiding."

They searched the kitchen and there was no sign of any guards or the Negg. They continued searching the level. They found nothing. They radioed to the others. "Level one is clear. No sign of the Negg or any guards."

Koorite and Lil had the third level. This happened to be the dining room. It contained a large table with shiny utensils and candles on it. "She sure is fancy for being so evil," Said Lil, "I sure hope there are no guards in here, or anything else."

They searched the room and found nothing. "There has to be a catch, or something to this," said Koorite after they were done.

"What do you mean?" Lil asked.

"Why are there no guards guarding her valuable stuff? Why were there no guards at the entrance? There's something weird going on."

Koorite radioed to the others, "Level three is also clear. There's no Negg. What about you guys?"

Emerald and Luna had been looking around, when they came across Vira's bedroom. There were two Skeiths guarding the door. "Well, Koorite, we found her bedroom, but there's two Skeiths guarding the doors."

"How do you plan on getting in?" Koorite asked.

"Hold on a second. Someone's coming," Emerald replied.

Emerald and Luna hid around the corner. Suddenly a Jetsam walked around the corner. "All right guys, your shift is over, head to your quarters. Your replacements will be up in a few minutes."

The Skeiths nodded and started towards the stairs. The Jetsam followed. Emerald and Luna waited until they were down the stairs, "Koorite, Lil, watch out. They're coming your way."

"Okay, Emerald. Thanks for the heads up."

"Okay, Emerald, now's our chance," Luna said taking a few steps forward, "Let's go."

They rushed to the doors. Luna opened one door and Emerald peeked in. "It's clear."

The two Kougras walked in. "Wow!" Luna exclaimed, "Look at all this stuff."

Emerald looked to his right. The wall was lined with shelves. The shelves were covered with all sorts of rare plushies and other rare items. Luna saw a couple of large display cases by Vira's bed. They were full of Neggs. "Emerald, look. It's probably in here."

They ran over to the cases. They looked through them. "It's… it's not here, Emerald. What do we do now?"

"Spritzie, it's not here. It's up to you and Chibi."

"Well then, Chibi, it's up to us," Spritzie said.

"Let's do it," Chibi responded.

They had been searching the other rooms on their floor. They were just heading towards the last one. There were no guards outside the room. Suddenly, the door swung open. Vira walked out. She muttered, "I can't get any good help around here. I'll just do it myself."

When she was out of sight, Spritzie turned to Chibi. "I saw the Negg. It's in her throne room."

She told the others. "Do you think there are guards in there, Spritzie?" Chibi asked.

"There could be. Let's find out."

Spritzie and Chibi slowly opened the doors and looked inside. They didn't see any guards. "That's odd," Chibi said, "I didn't think Vira would leave her throne room unguarded."

"She wouldn't, so it must be time for a shift change, which means we need to work fast."

They quickly ran to the Negg, which was sitting on a pedestal. "Before we take it, we need the others to get out. We need as few as possible in here when Vira notices it's gone," Spritzie told Chibi.

He nodded in agreement. Spritzie radioed to the others. "Guys, we are about to get the Negg, we need you all out as fast as possible."

They quickly exited the tower and waited by the moat. Chibi looked at Spritzie, "Well, Spritz, this is it."

Chibi picked up the Negg and handed it to Spritzie. She quickly put it in her backpack. "Now, let's get out of here," Chibi whispered.

Chibi and Spritzie ran out of the throne room. On the way out, they heard Vira. They quickly hid.

"Gryffinstormie, Koorite," Vira screamed.

"Yes, Vira?" Koorite asked.

Spritzie looked at Chibi, "This must be what happens to them in the future," Spritzie said softly.

They listened as Vira continued. "You guys were supposed to be at my throne room 15 minutes ago. Where were you?"

"We were…" Gryffinstormie started.

"Never mind that. Get to my throne room now, or I will have you locked up in cages and EmeraldMount and ChibiMartian will take your places. Now go!"

Gryffinstormie and Koorite raced to the throne room. Vira walked away. "Now's our chance, Spritzie. Let's get out of here."

Chibi and Spritzie hurried outside. They met the others. "Did you get it?" Lil asked hopefully.

They nodded. "We need to leave now," Chibi informed them.

They quickly got over the moat. As they were running away, they heard a shrill scream. "Uh oh," Emerald stated, half laughing, "I think she noticed that it's missing."

They hurried towards the Faerie Queen's palace, with Chibi, Gryf, and Spritzie flying up into Faerieland, carrying the others in their claws and on their backs. When they arrived, they were quickly ushered in. "Did you retrieve the Mosaic Negg from Vira?" The Faerie Queen asked.

Spritzie opened her pack and handed her the Mosaic Negg. "Well done," She said as she took the Negg from Spritzie, "You have successfully completed my first quest."

"Does this mean that we are the Chosen?" Sun asked.

"Not necessarily. You must complete all of my quests."

"So, this is only the beginning?" Lil asked.

"Well, yes…"

"Great," Chibi sighed.

"Don't get discouraged, my young Neopets. I have faith in you. I believe that you are the Chosen and that you will be able to complete my other quests. Are you ready for a new quest?"

"Definitely," Emerald said firmly.

They all agreed with Emerald. "For the next quest, I need you to get me a Mystery Island Paint Brush."

"What else is there to it?" Luna asked.

"You must get it from the Ghost Lupe, on Mystery Island," answered the Queen.

"Wait a minute," Spritzie said, stepping forward. "I need to know something first."

"And what is that?" asked Fyora politely.

"How far into the future are we?" Spritzie asked.

"Approximately fifty years from your own time," answered the Queen.

"So you're saying, that sometime in the next fifty years of our time, four of us are going to be enslaved by Vira?" Spritzie asked, leaving out the bit about Lil's death. "Is there a way to change all of that?"

Fyora paused for a moment. She walked over to a very tall, very wide full-length mirror on her wall. It took up most of the wall. "Come forward, please," The eight walked up beside the Queen. The Angelpuss followed, watching curiously.

"Time and Destiny are both very complex things, " she said. As she said this, the mirror changed. It was now reflecting blackness, with an infinite number of brilliantly glowing white lines running through the darkness, all crossing each other, separating, crossing again. Occasionally, a line would end abruptly.

"These lines represent time," the Queen continued. "Each line is a life, a living being. Where two lines cross and separate, is the point in which two beings meet, and later part ways. Where a line ends, a life ends." The mirror then changed once again. This time, it showed a scene of war and mass destruction.

"Within a few years of your time, a great war will break out. Lord Darigan, Dr. Sloth, and the Monocerapter will unite their power in an effort of total conquest of Neopia. They will call themselves the Tri-Union. They will recruit, through means of bribery and promises of wealth and power, other evil beings such as Vira, along with many Neopians. There will be a great and long war. Many Neopians will die; many others will cross over and join the Tri-Union forces - some willingly, others by force. Ultimately, the Tri-Union will win the war, and Neopia will be purged into the darkness you now see."

The Neopets watched the scene unfold in the mirror with horror. "But can it be changed?" Luna asked, a tear falling from her eye.

"The future is never set in stone," the Queen answered. "To an extent, everyone controls his or her own destiny. However, when it is something large-scale such as this, it is almost always fate, the ultimate destiny, that guides the course of time. You have been given a very rare opportunity, to see the future of our world before it actually comes to pass. There are ways you can use this knowledge and change it; however, the consequences are so wide-ranged and there are so many other ways things could happen, that by preventing this great war, you could unintentionally make things worse for the future of Neopia; they could simply come back later when they are much stronger, and the world would be even darker than it is now. "

"So there's nothing we can do?" Chibi asked. "Some of us are destined to become Vira's slaves, others of us to... to die... no matter what?"

Fyora looked at them sadly. "No matter what happens, everyone's ultimate destiny is to die someday," she said. "Since I do not know who specifically you are speaking of and how he or she died, I cannot say for sure whether or not it could be changed; besides, that is something that is best left unknown. As for those who are taken by Vira... Vira alone is not one of the more powerful of Neopia's evil beings. Her power is mainly within the mirrors she gives away. When she sided with the Tri-Union, her powers were increased greatly, allowing her to hypnotize and use mind-control. If the three leaders of the Tri-Union -- Darigan, Sloth, and the Monoceraptor -- are defeated, then the people whom they gave powers to, such as Vira, would revert back to their original state of ability; in her case she would lose her hypnotic powers. When this happens, those under her spell will be freed. If the Tri-Union leaders are defeated, those enslaved by them will be freed, and they will be able to start a new life for Neopia, and punish those on the side of the Tri-Union."

"So, if you're right about us, and we're the eight destined to save the world," began Lil, "our future selves who have been captured or put under a spell will be freed?"

"Yes," answered the Queen. "However, I must warn you of something very important. During your Quests for me, and your subsequent Quest to defeat the Tri-Union, if you prove worthy, you may come across your future selves. I take it this has already happened with some of you, since you are asking these questions. If this is the case, do not interact with your future selves. It will have horrible consequences. For example, if the Sunskyes of your time were to meet the Sunskyes of this time, and they actually touched each other, both Sunskyes would cease to exist. It is also possible that you would not even have to touch, but only to see, one another. A timeline cannot overlap with itself."

Chibi was somewhat confused by this statement, but thought he had the general idea. "So if we meet our future selves, run and hide so they can't see us?" he asked.

"Yes," answered Fyora calmly. "Now, if you like, I will direct you to the sleeping chambers so you can get a good night's rest before completing the next task."

"Ok, thanks," Koorite said gratefully as they followed the Queen through the Palace into the sleeping quarters.

"As if we could sleep after hearing all _that_. "Emerald whispered to Luna. The Angelpuss meowed happily.

_After narrowly escaping Vira, the Neopets learn about their grim futures. Lil will die, and at least four others will succumb to Vira's power. But what of the others? Will they ever find out? Can they succeed in their next mission?_


	9. MiniQuest

**Part Nine:**

_The group narrowly escaped Vira, but now they must face the Ghost Lupe. How can they defeat someone who's not alive?_

The next day, the Faerie Queen treated all of the young neopets to a great breakfast of omelettes from Tyrannia. Spritzie put on her sack, as Fyora gave Luna a new sack with some supplies.

"This is some food and supplies to last for a couple of days," Fyora said. "Be very careful. The Ghost Lupe will be especially difficult, since he is already dead." with that, she teleported the group to Mystery Island.

Lil looked around. All around, trees were broken, the jungle was dead. "Well, we may be on Mystery Island," she said, "but it's no mystery what happened here."

They wandered the jungle until they came to the remains of the village that had once thrived. Most of the huts were gone, burned ashes remaining. The Training School and Island Mystic hut were both simply gone, large craters in their place.

"I bet they blew up the Training School to keep Neopians from training for war," Chibi said.

"And they did the same to the Island Mystic because of the prophecy that was made," Spritzie added.

"Yeah, who would have thought he would actually be right about something?" joked Koorite. "And that it'd get him killed?"

"Yeah, " added Lil, "It's a miracle any of his prophecies even made it into a book. In fact, if he hadn't published that book of his prophecies, it wouldn't have. It was mostly a bestseller because of the weirdness in it."

"So, how do we find the Ghost Lupe?" Chibi asked. "It may be kind of hard to find a lonely, restless spirit in this place. After all, so many people have died unexpectedly here in the war, spirits could be all over the place. "

"Well, I don't see any," sulked Gryffin, "Maybe if we call out 'Here, Mr. Dead Guy'?"

"Go AWAY!" screamed a voice from behind them suddenly. They turned around to find the Ghost Lupe scowling at them angrily.

"Not until we get what we came after," answered Spritzie. "You have a Mystery Island Paint Brush that belongs to the Faerie Queen."

"Why would you want that anyways?" questioned Koorite. "You can't paint yourself. You're dead."

"I do not need it for myself, you idiots," answered the Ghost Lupe coldly. "I am protecting it for the Tri-Union."

"And why exactly do _they_ want a Paint Brush?" Luna asked.

"They don't," answered Ghost Lupe. "And neither does the Faerie Queen. Do you not inform yourselves before rushing off to do the Faerie Queen's dirty work?"

"What are you talking about?" Sun demanded, preparing to charge. Lil watched Ghost Lupe with a quizzical look about her face.

"Do you _really_ think that the Faerie Queen has such an interest in items such as Paint Brushes and Neggs - no matter how rare - as to send Neopians on life-threatening tasks to retrieve them? She has no use for such things. There is no amount of wealth that a Paint Brush or Negg could bring that the Queen doesn't already have."

"Then what's so important about these?" asked Lil.

"They aren't just ordinary rare items," said Ghost Lupe slyly. "They were enchanted by a mysterious sorceress long ago, when the Tri-Union first came to power. They were then given to the Faerie Queen to guard. When all of the enchanted items are united, they will form a great weapon which will give its owner enough power to defeat the Tri-Union."

"But if the Tri-Union already has these items and they're being guarded by members, then why don't they just unite the stuff together and take the weapon for themselves?" asked Luna.

"The Tri-Union managed to get the items from the Queen with the aide of Darkness Faeries," answered Ghost Lupe. "But something is missing: the mysterious sorceress herself. She is the last piece needed to unite the enchanted objects. But nobody knows who she is, how to find her, or even where to look."

"Exactly how do you know all this?' questioned Emerald cautiously, all too aware that the Ghost Lupe could simply be stalling.

"I'm a ghost," answered the spirit simply. "I've been around a long time. When you're dead and you wander aimlessly, you tend to see and overhear things."

"Well, you're going to give us that Paint Brush," demanded Chibi, charging at Ghost Lupe. He charged with his horn aimed, but he simply ran straight through the spirit.

"Physical force will not help you here," laughed the Ghost Lupe. "If you want the Paint Brush, you will have to earn it."

"How?" asked Sun.

"When I was alive, I was a brave Lupe knight for Meridell," began the Ghost Lupe. "My name was Larran. I was in love with a beautiful Lupe woman, Lorraine. We were soon to marry. Then one night, she was kidnapped by traveling slave traders and pirates, and taken to Mystery Island, where she was taken by the natives. I followed in a ship, determined to rescue her. I was near the island, when a violent storm hit, sinking the ship and washing the crew and myself- most dead, but some, including me, alive - onto the shore of the Island. Before we had a chance to regroup, the natives came and killed all of the survivors of the shipwreck. I have been here ever since."

"How sad," Spritzie said sarcastically. "I know you're stalling. Tell us how to get the brush!"

"I was not stalling!" retorted the Ghost Lupe. "In order to do my task, you had to understand the background. On the ship, there is an item very special to me. It is a gold necklace with a heart locket on it. It belonged to my beloved Lorraine. I have always felt that if I could just have that necklace back, my most cherished possession, I would be able to move on to join the spirit of my love. If you retrieve the necklace for me, I will exchange it for the Paint Brush."

"And the ship is...?" began Sun.

"At the bottom of the sea," finished Ghost Lupe.

"But how can we get there?" asked Chibi, exasperated. "We breathe air. The ocean is full of water."

Suddenly, a large white sphere appeared in front of the group. Colors, all the colors of the rainbow, began to flash within the orb. They spun faster and faster within, a spinning colorful globe, until finally it exploded, the sprinkles landing on each of the Neopians. The sprinkles then vanished.

_Go into the water_, a voice said in their minds.

The Neopets all looked in amazement, wondering where the sphere had come from and what it had sprinkled on them; there seemed to be no effect on their bodies. "You heard the Faerie Queen!" Sun said finally, and began walking toward the sea. The rest followed.

"We'll get your necklace," Spritzie called out to Ghost Lupe. "You just be waiting with that Paint Brush."

"The Faerie Queen must be watching with that weird mirror of hers," commented Koorite.

Soon, the eight found themselves at the sea. "Is this the right place?" questioned Luna nervously.

"Only one way to find out," Spritzie said, heading for the ocean water, after putting her bookbag in a safe place. The eight pets put their communicators in her bookbag. Spritzie and Chibi reached the water first. As soon as their feet touched the water, their bodies began to change. The rest of the group stopped to watch in amazement. Spritzie's tail became like a fish tail, as her two Shoyru legs shrank into her body. Blue scales grew on her blue skin, and a pair of gills appeared on the sides of her neck. Her wings shrank into her back until they disappeared. Fins grew attached to her hands and arms. Chibi's tail shrank into his body, vanishing. The tufts of fur around his hind hooves grew around the hooves, then hardened into scales. Red scales covered the rest of his red body, as the hind legs melted together to become a fishlike tail. His wings became large, scaley fins, and his ears became webbed. The fur around his front hooves disappeared. Gills appeared on the sides of his neck. Both Spritzie and Chibi felt as their insides shifted and adjusted themselves to an underwater environment.

"Whoa!" Lil cried out. "The sprinkles are turning us into aquatic Neopians so we can survive underwater!" As she said this, she and Sun entered the sea. Their insides adapted for aquatic life. Suddenly, short, scaly arms, each with two tiny fins on either side of the wrists, grew out from Lil's sides. At the end of each arm, a webbed, three-fingered hand appeared. Her feet became scaley, and two tiny fins appeared on each foot, one on each side. She felt as gills appeared on the inside of her throat. Sun's fur hardened into yellow scales, as gills appeared on her neck. Her tail and hind legs all melted together into a yellow fish tail.

Koorite and Gryffin walked into the water next, and immediately the changes began. Their insides twisted to fit water life. All four of Koorite's limbs meshed together to become a new fish tail. His own Lupe tail then grew, twisting itself around the new tail, and melted together with the fish tail, becoming a part of it. Gills appeared on his neck, as his blue fur hardened to scales of the same color. Gryffin's front legs and paws shrank into his body. His hindlegs and tail melted together into a fish tail. His wings became large fins on his back. His green fur hardened into matching scales. A pair of gills appeared on his chest.

Emerald and Luna were the last to enter the water, after Luna put down her bookbag of supplies. As with the others, their insides adjusted to an aquatic environment. Their fur hardened into scales, each the same color the fur had been. Their tails grew larger and became fish tails. Their hind legs shrank and became small, barely visible fins under the tails. Gills appeared on their necks, and their front paws became webbed.

"This must be what the sprinkles were for," Sun said to the others. "So that we can change for the ocean life."

With some effort, the eight newly-transformed Neopians managed to push themselves completely into the water, and once they were out far enough, were able to swim the rest of the way.

_The eight young Neopians have been transformed into aquatic equivalents of themselves to find the Ghost Lupe's necklace. But is he serious? Or is this a trap?_


	10. Troubled Waters

**Part Ten:**

_In the depths of the ocean, there lies a ruined civilization, Maraqua. But it is not entirely abandoned. Within lies a dreaded sea monster... _

The water was teeming with life. Fish swam everywhere. Peophins looked at them and quickly swam away in fear. Eventually, one blue Peophin approached them.

"What are you?" she asked fearfully. "Are you new creations of Dr. Sloth's?"

"We are Neopians, transformed into this to go on a quest for the Faerie Queen," answered Spritzie.

"And what is it you seek?" asked the Peophin.

"A necklace from the Ghost Lupe's sunken ship."

"I will take you there, " said the Peophin. "Follow me. My name is Aquatickaa." One by one, the others introduced themselves.

"So how is it that there is still so much life here, when it's so depressing on the surface?" questioned Luna, as they followed Aquatickaa.

"The underwater realm is the only place the Tri-Union hasn't conquered, aside from the Faerie Queen's Palace," she answered, "They have no use for it. Most of those who would be able to live on land as well as water left the sea when Maraqua was destroyed long ago."

The group swam down into the depths of the ocean, down the face of a cliff, until finally, they could see the remnants of the ship, looming eerily in the distance. When they got there, the group searched the entire ship with no luck.

"Now what?" cried Lil in despair. "It's not here."

"When Maraqua still existed, many Maraquans pillaged the ship and took what they found back to the Kingdom. Most of the valuables are there now."

"Ok then," said Sun. "We have to go to Maraqua."

"It will be very dangerous," warned Aquatickaa. "It is said that there is a giant sea monster that has come to live there since the days of the Great War."

"We have to try," declared Chibi, "It could be the key to defeating the Tri-Union once and for all."

Aquatickaa's eyes grew wide. "Are you the Faerie Defense League?" she asked. "I hardly recognized you! I haven't seen you in years! The Faerie Queen must be very powerful!" as she said this, she hugged Chibi tightly.

"Huh?" asked Koorite, bewildered.

"Well, I will go with you to Maraqua, and show you the way," said Aquatickaa.

"Some of us should stay here on the ship and wait," determined Spritzie, "That way, if something happens to those who go, the rest will still be able to continue the quest."

In the end, it was decided that Chibi, Luna, Emerald, and Lil would stay and wait on the ship, while Spritzie, Koorite, Gryffin, Sun, and Aquatickaa went to Maraqua.

The ruins of Maraqua were covered in seaweed, algae, and even some corral reef in some places. Fish had made a home of it.

"Everybody keep a lookout," said Aquatickaa, "The sea monster could be anywhere."

"This is going to take forever," sulked Gryffin, "Maraqua has been gone for years. Surely people have come to excavate the ruins, and taken things back with them. And it takes years to even do that."

Suddenly, something grabbed Koorite from behind. The rest of the group turned around in horror. Holding Koorite was a monstrous creature, with grey, scaley skin and a Kougra-like head. Koorite was being held in one of its eight long, lashing tentacles. Before they could react, Sun, Gryffin, Spritzie, and Aquatickaa had each been taken by one of the tentacles as well.

"What do you want here?" questioned the creature angrily in a loud, wheezy voice.

"We... we are looking for a very special necklace," stuttered Spritzie. A flash of recognition came across the sea creature's face.

"I know the necklace you speak of," it said, "I found it when I first came here, and I saved it for the day I knew you would come to get it. I will take you to it now." With its three free tentacles, it began swimming.

"How did you know that?" asked Sun, confused.

"My name is Lunamercurie," answered the monster. Gryffin gasped.

"You're Luna's future self!" he cried out.

"But how did you get like this?" asked Sun..

"The Great War was a long and disastrous war," began Luna, "During the Great War, the Neopian Army was led by a group of eight powerful warriors, who called themselves the Faerie Defense League. They had special powers no other Neopian had, and were chosen personally by the Faerie Queen herself to help fight the threat. But it was in vain; four of the League members were enslaved by Vira, one was killed, one went insane, one vanished mysteriously without a trace, and in the end, I was captured by Dr. Sloth as a prisoner of war."

"How did you end up like this?" repeated Sun.

"By that time, Sloth had invented a new, more powerful Lab Ray which he used specifically as a form of torture for his prisoners of war," answered Luna. "He would use it on prisoners and change them, and often they would die because their new body was too mutated to be able to live in Neopia's environment. But Sloth had a special hatred for the Faerie Defense League. When he captured me, he mutated me into this and brought me into the water. Most of the Neopians inhabiting the sea tried to kill me out of fear, so I came to the ruins of Maraqua in an attempt to live in peace. But it became a normal practice for adventure-seekers to come and attempt to murder me and bring my body back as a trophy, so I had to kill them in self defense."

"I'm so sorry, Luna," said Aquatickaa. "I wish I had known. I could have helped you all these years if I had. But I was captured by the Tri-Union shortly before you were, so I knew nothing about all of this. When I never saw anyone again, I assumed you were all dead..."

"_What_?" cried an astonished Spritzie, "You know about all of this? How?"

"During the Great War, I was very close to the Faerie Defense League. I worked as one of the Neopian Army's spies," answered Aquatickaa.

Luna put them down as they reached a crumbled up palace. "You wait here, I'll get it. I have been sleeping in the palace ruins, and keep it in a vault there."

After a few minutes, Luna brought out a small, tarnished golden necklace with a golden heart locket on it, which had two Lupes inside.

"Here," she said, "And it is best that you don't tell the others what you learned here. If my past self should decide to try to avoid capture, and prevent me from becoming this way, then the consequences would be very bad. We would never meet now, and you'd never get the locket."

"Ok," said Sun. "Thank you so much!" she paused, "Is there any way to change you back?"

Luna looked away sadly, choking back tears. "It is very unlikely I will get changed back," she said, "When the Tri-Union formed, Lord Darigan gave Sloth's spaceship special magical defenses. Even the Space Faeries couldn't break through. Getting his Mega Lab Ray and reprogramming it is the only way to reverse the effects it had on those he used it on."

"We'll find a way to change you back," declared Sun.

"Oh, and Luna?" began Spritzie. "We - Sun, Chibi, you, Gryffin, Lil, Koorite, Emerald and I -we're the Faerie Defense League, aren't we?"

"Yes, you are," confirmed Luna.

"So why us?" questioned Gryffin.

"Now is not the time to know that, " Luna answered. "But in time, you will know."

Sun and the others then said goodbye and swam back to the ship.

Just as advised, they told nothing that happened to those that waited on the ship. Spritzie put the necklace around her neck, and it was time to go.

"Thanks for the help, Aquatickaa," said Luna. "We really appreciate it."

"No problem," said Aquatickaa, beaming at Chibi. "Goodbye... for now."

Once they reached the surface, the group managed to waddle and push themselves onto the shore. As soon as they did, there was once again the strange shifting of bodies, until they were once again their original forms. The Ghost Lupe was standing there waiting on them.

"It took you long enough!" he snarled.

"Well, we got it, didn't we?" retorted Spritzie, pointing to the chain on her neck. "Where's the Paint Brush?" Ghost Lupe levitated to a nearby bush, and his paw partially solidified, allowing him to carry the brush over to Spritzie. He gave her the Paint Brush, as Spritzie gave him the locket.

As soon as Ghost Lupe's paw touched the locket, it began to glow, and another Lupe spirit appeared. "Lorraine!" he cried out. "We're together at last!" Then, they both vanished.

"You're welcome," said Spritzie, annoyed. Suddenly, a large yellow bubble came down from the sky, and engulfed the eight Neopians. It lifted them high into the air, and took them back to the Faerie Palace. When they got there, Spritzie gave the Faerie Queen the Paint Brush.

"Well done," praised Fyora, "I have been watching from the mirror. Now, go on to bed, and I will tell you your next mission in the morning." Luna petted the Angelpuss on the back, who meowed happily.

_The heroes have learned more of their grim future, and have just two more tasks to complete. Will they succeed? _


	11. A Brush with the Devil

**Part Eleven:**

_The eight from the past have been through overwhelming ordeals - learning of a grim future for their world; knowledge of their own downfall; fighting the worst of Neopia. But they still have two more enchanted items to retrieve. What will happen if they fail?_

The next day, the Neopets awoke to a tapping noise on their door. No one got up. They heard the tapping noise again. "Is anyone going to get that?" Chibi asked sleepily.

"I'm too tired," Lil muttered.

"Well, I can't. My mane is surely out of place," Chibi added, attempting to straighten his mane.

There was the tapping, yet again. "Fine, I'll get it," Koorite said in aggravation.

Koorite got out of his bed and walked to the door. By now, the other seven were sitting up, watching to see who would be on the other side of the door. Koorite opened the door. A pink Uni stood staring back at him. She had her mane in several braids tied with green ribbons. Her tail was in a single braid, also tied with a green ribbon. After Koorite's gesture, she stepped into the room. She looked around at the silent Neopians. She spoke clearly, "The Faerie Queen has arranged for your breakfast in the dining room, after which, she would like to speak with you. I will give you some time to get ready for the day and then I shall return for you."

With that, she turned around and walked out of the room and shut the door behind her. "Ohhh, man."

They all turned to see Chibi with a pillow over his head. "What's wrong, Chibi?" Sun asked.

"I cannot believe this," He sat up and looked in the mirror, "She saw me like this. I look atrocious."

Luna sighed and rolled her eyes. "Come on, guys, let's hurry and get ready. We have another quest ahead of us," Spritzie said as she climbed out of bed and started gathering her things.

The others followed reluctantly. Soon, they were all ready, with the exception of Chibi. He was standing in front of a mirror smoothing out his mane. "Come on, Chibi," Gryffin said in exasperation, "We need to get going."

"Okay, okay, I'm ready."

Just then there was a tap at the door. Spritzie opened the door. The same pink Uni was standing outside the door. "Are you ready?" She asked brightly.

They all nodded. The pink Uni started down the hallway. As they were walking out of the room, Koorite turned to Chibi and said, "Dude, you might want to check, I think part of your mane is out of place."

"What!" Chibi exclaimed running to the mirror, and after looking, replied, "No, it's not."

Everyone started laughing. Spritzie laughed, "Come on, Chibi, we need to go."

He looked at them and then pranced past. They all snickered. They walked into the hallway to see her standing there, waiting for them. They followed her to the dining room. When they arrived there was set before them, a banquet of faerie foods. After they had eaten, they were then summoned to the throne room. When they entered, the Faerie Queen was sitting on the throne. "Are you ready for your next quest?"

Chibi stepped forward, "We sure are. What's next?"

"You must get me a pirate paint brush."

"Who do we have to get it from?" Chibi asked.

"You must go to Krawk Island and get it from the Pant Devil."

"All right, let's do this," Luna said firmly.

The Faerie Queen teleported them to Krawk Island. They looked around. It was gloomy. "How do we go about finding the Pant Devil?" Lil asked.

"I have no idea. I don't think anyone has ever looked for him," Gryffin stated.

"I have an idea," Spritzie added, "I doubt anyone comes here very often, so I'm sure we'll stick out. He's bound to notice us and he's sure to try to take something from us."

"You're right, Spritzie," Luna replied.

Chibi said, "Luna, let me have your pack."

She handed it to him. He unzipped the pack a little and put it on his back. "What are you doing, Chibi?" Sun asked.

Chibi replied, "The Pant Devil loves nothing more than an easy target."

They all understood what he was thinking. "I guess we just walk around until he finds us," Koorite stated.

It wouldn't be long before they found what they were waiting for. Chibi sensed something directly behind him. He felt a slight tug at his pack and he immediately used his Uni Kick. They all turned around to see the Pant Devil flying through the air. He slammed into a nearby rock. Chibi turned to Koorite, "I've always wanted to do that."

He got up and looked at them angrily. "What do you think you are doing here?"

"We've come for the pirate paint brush you have," Spritzie said firmly.

"I have tons of those..."

"We don't want just any one, there's one in particular that we want," Chibi added as he stepped beside Spritzie.

He looked at them. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about… the pirate paint brush that you are protecting for the Tri-Union. You have it… we want it," Spritzie said forcefully, starting to get irritated with his stalling.

"Well, you can't have it. Now leave."

"We're not going anywhere until we have it."

Spritzie looked back at everyone, and nodded. Emerald levitated pebbles from the ground and pelted him with them. Meanwhile, Koorite sent sparks. He just hovered over them, laughing. "You are all too weak to fight me."

Lil looked at Spritzie, "He's right. We can't fight him. We're just too weak."

"No, Lil. We can do this. We just have to work together."

Spritzie whispered something to Chibi and Lil, and then she snuck off, unnoticed. She quickly made her way to the top of a nearby hill. She started hovering near the top. She nodded to Chibi and Lil. They nodded and both used their fiery roar. The Pant Devil was momentarily stunned. At that moment, Spritzie flew quickly towards him. She hit him, knocking them both to the ground. She hit with such force, that she was knocked unconscious. He was noticeably weakened. He shook it off and focused his attention on the now motionless Spritzie. Her friends watched in horror. "We have to do something!" Chibi exclaimed as he charged the Pant Devil.

His horn pierced into the Pant Devil's back. He screamed out in pain. He turned around to face Chibi. Koorite hurried and picked up Spritzie and carried her to safety. Lil came and stayed with her while Koorite went to help the others. Chibi gave one last massive Uni Kick. As the Pant Devil began to fade away, death overtaking him, he said, "Okay, you've won. Here's your paint brush."

The paint brush appeared and he handed it to Chibi. They all watched until he had completely faded away. Chibi put the paint brush in his pack, and then looked at everyone. "Is everyone okay?"

They nodded one by one. They went to Spritzie and Lil. Spritzie was still unconscious. Koorite lifted her up and laid her on Chibi's back. They started walking. Soon, the yellow bubble appeared and engulfed them and brought them to Faerie Land. "We got it," Chibi said, handing the Paint Brush to the Faerie Queen, "But Spritzie is hurt."

The Faerie Queen reached down and picked up Spritzie. She started walking towards their rooms. They all followed. She set Spritzie in a bed. She waved her hand and a special healing potion appeared in her hand. She sat down in the chair beside the bed. She held her hand out in front of her and lightly blew. Sprinkles of rainbow colors glittered in the air, lightly falling upon the sleeping Shoyru. Spritzie moved slightly in her sleep. All her friends held their breath. Slowly, Spritzie opened her eyes. Chibi stepped forward. "Spritz, you okay?" He asked softly.

She closed her eyes and then opened them again. She looked around her. "Spritzie…say something," Lil said, starting to get worried.

She looked at them. After a few moments, she opened her mouth to speak. The room fell silent. "Did…did we get it?" She asked finally.

Emerald laughed lightly, "Yeah, we did, Spritzie. We got it."

The Faerie Queen smiled, "You did wonderfully, Spritzie. You and your friends are doing an exceptional job. Here," She said, holding the healing potion to her, "Drink this."

Spritzie took it from her and drank it. They all watched as her cuts and bruises healed and she returned to full health. The Faerie Queen stood up, "All of you should get some rest… and make sure Spritzie stays in bed until tomorrow. Good night and well done."

They all watched as she walked out the door and disappeared down the long hallway. They all gathered around Spritzie.

_That was a close call for Spritzie! But there is still one more item to retrieve. How many close calls will these eight brave Neopets overcome before one goes for good? _


	12. Terror on the Mountain

**Part Twelve: **

_With the Faerie Queen's help, Spritzie fully recovered from her injuries. Lucky for them, because this final item may be the hardest yet to get... _

"Are you all ready for the final task?" asked the Faerie Queen after breakfast the next morning. They were in the throne room, with the eight Neopets standing in front of her, and the Queen sitting on her throne, the Angelpuss beside the throne.

"Yeah," answered Spritzie a little shakily, "We're ready."

"Be careful this time, guys," advised Luna, "We don't want anyone else to get hurt. This time it may be worse." Emerald nodded in agreement.

"This time, you must go to Terror Mountain," informed the Faerie Queen, "The Monocerous has an Ultra Ice Negg you must possess."

"Oh, my..." gasped Lil.

"That's worse than the Meuka we had to deal with in the Woods!" exclaimed Chibi.

"Be brave, and have confidence," said the Queen, "Have faith in yourselves."

The Faerie Queen waved her hand, and the group was suddenly in the midst of a raging blizzard.

"Where are we!" cried Lil in the howling wind.

"We must be somewhere on Terror Mountain!" answered Chibi. He dug his hooves into the ground in an attempt to keep the wind from knocking him over. He folded his wings to keep the air from catching him and blowing him away.

"There's no way we can find the Monocerous in this blizzard!" declared Sun. "We need to find shelter to wait it out!"

Together, they struggled on, fighting the blizzard, until they found the entrance to what seemed to be a large cave. They walked in, and soon they found a vast structure of tunnels, some filled with stalactites and stalagmites.

"Should we go exploring?" questioned Chibi, "We may find something in one of these tunnels. Like something we can use to fight the Monocerous when we find him."

"May as well, then we'll be productive while we're waiting on the blizzard, at least," answered Luna, "Where do we find the Monocerous anyways?"

They picked a tunnel with less objects protruding from it, and began exploring. Soon they came to a dead end, where stalactites and stalagmites joined to form bars blocking their way.

"Well, I guess we turn around," Spritzie said.

"No, wait," replied Koorite, "I think I see something on the other side." Chibi used his Uni Kick to break the bars and clear the way. They continued a few yards, and were astonished at what they found.

"Whoa!" gasped Lil, "What is this place?"

"This is impossible..." muttered Spritzie. They had walked into an enormous cavern. The ceiling stretched up hundreds of feet. The base was enormously wide. Inside the cavern were countless treasures and dubloons.

"Have we found the Snowager's cave?" questioned Chibi.

"No way," answered Gryffin, "Compared to this, the Snowager is a peasant. Besides, Snowager isn't anywhere around."

"We must be actually inside Terror Mountain itself," determined Lil, "Somehow the entire mountain is hollow, and all of this is inside."

As they looked around the cavern, Sun noticed something. "Hey, look," she said. She and Spritzie walked over to a shiny object in a corner.

"I don't believe it!" Sun cried out, "It's the Negg!"

"How do you know?" questioned Spritzie, noticing several identical Neggs a short distance away.

"Oh, I just do..." Sun said vaguely. Spritzie put the Negg in her sack.

On the other side of the cave, Luna heard a shuffling, and what sounded like growling. She looked to the side. She let out a horrible yell as the Monocerous, who had been hiding, watching, pounced on her. Not wasting a second, Emerald immediately jumped on the Monocerous' back and began clawing. Before it could roar in pain, Chibi gave it a swift Uni Kick in the jaw, temporarily stunning it.

"RUN!" cried out Lil. The group quickly ran into the tunnel. Soon after, the Monocerous regained his wits, and was chasing after them.

"Should we stay in the tunnels!" demanded Gryffin, "Maybe he won't use his roar to paralyze us in here because of the possibility of causing a cave-in or avalanche!"

"Good idea!" cried out Spritzie, "And let's split up! We still have our communicators, and he can't follow all of us!"

When they came to a fork in the path, they took different directions - Chibi and Gryffin going straight, Sun and Lil going one way, and Spritzie, Emerald, Luna, and Koorite going a third. Soon, the Lupe, Shoyru, and Kougras came to another divide, and the Kougras went one way, Spritzie and Koorite the other.

"He's following _us_!" cried Lil, "He must think we have the Negg, or something!"

"Well, maybe that's a good thing!" answered Sun, "You're a Jubjub, you're immune to his roar!"

Soon, they reached a dead end. Sun and Lil turned towards the creature, poised to defend themselves. Their enemy drooled hungrily. They could hear bits of conversation amongst the others through their communicators. The others had begun to realize where the Monocerous was.

"Hey, you!" cried a voice from behind Monocerous, "Over here! We've got the Negg! Good thing we found our way to you!" it was Spritzie and Koorite. The Monocerous turned and began chasing them, with Lil and Sun following.

As they chased through the winding tunnels, they soon found themselves back at the cave entrance. They ran through - Spritzie and Koorite, with the Monocerous on their heels, Sun and Lil following behind, keeping the others informed over communicator. As soon as they stepped out into the still-raging blizzard, a gust of wind caught Spritzie under her wings and swept her away, Spritzie still holding the Negg-containing sack.

"Spritzie!" cried out Lil, as the others, who had by now reunited, watched in despair.

"No!" cried out Koorite. In anger, he and Emerald both pounced on the Monocerous. The Monocerous roared angrily, and everyone collapsed, paralyzed. Everyone except for Lil and Sun. Lil looked at Sun, confused. But before she could say anything, the Monocerous pounced.

Just as he was about to land on Sun, she began glowing. Radiant, white light began shining all around her. The strength and power of the light was aimed at the Monocerous, and hit him, causing him to immediately disintegrate. Sun then returned to her normal appearance, as though nothing had happened.

"What's going on?" Lil questioned, "How did you learn to do that? I've never known an Ixi to be able to do that." They both looked around at their paralyzed companions.

"You will find out soon," answered Sun. Suddenly, the yellow bubble appeared and carried the group - minus Spritzie - out of the blizzard and back to the Palace in Faerieland.

As soon as they got there, the Faerie Queen walked up. She waved her hand, and rainbow sprinkles fell on Chibi, Koorite, Luna, Emerald, and Gryffin. Soon after, they regained consciousness.

"What happened?" asked Luna, "Where's Spritzie? Did we find her? What about the Monocerous?"

"We haven't found Spritzie yet," answered Lil, "As for how Sun destroyed the Monocerous, I'd like to know that myself. And what was that huge cave we were in? How did it get there?"

"I have been watching from the mirror," said the Queen, ignoring Lil, "I saw what happened with the Monocerous. It is time for you to know the truth now."

"Not yet," insisted Sun, "Spritzie was carried off by the storm. She has the Negg. We have to find her." The Queen nodded and took them to the throne room, the group looking at each other curiously.

When they entered the throne room, the Angelpuss happily ran in circles. They all walked over to the large wall mirror.

"Show me where Spritzieblue the Shoyru is," commanded Fyora. The mirror brought up an image of the blue Shoyru, the pack tight in her fists, fighting the wind in a remote, unknown area where she had finally landed after being swept away.

Without hesitation, Fyora reached her hand towards the mirror. When her hand touched the mirror, it seemed to liquefy, sending out ripples through the mirror. To the astonishment of the Neopians, her hand went through the mirror. They watched as she grabbed the struggling Shoyru and pulled her back through the mirror, which then solidified once again.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Chibi.

"How did you do that!" demanded Spritzie, standing up, "And if you can do that, then why have we been going on all these chases after things you could have gotten simply by going through your mirror?"

"We have all of the pieces now," said Sun, looking at Fyora, "It is time."

_Somehow, Sun was immune to the Monocerous' roar, while that ability is reserved to only Jubjubs. And she seems to have other powers far beyond the average Ixi. How is this possible? _


	13. The Truth Revealed

**Part Thirteen:**

_The Faerie Queen has just somehow saved Spritzie by means of her mirror, and Sun has mentioned that "it is time." It is time for what?_

"How is it that we end up getting sent on all these so-called 'tasks' if you can just pull things out of your mirror?" demanded an angry Spritzie.

"Spritzie!" yelled Lil, "Show some gratitude! She saved your life!"

"If it weren't for _her_, I wouldn't have been in danger to begin with," Spritzie retorted.

"I didn't get the items myself because I couldn't," answered Fyora, "Now be patient. It is now time for you to know everything." As she said this, she backed up a few paces, and called the Angelpuss to stand a few steps away beside her. Sun then stood on Fyora's other side, the three of them lined up side by side. Fyora held out her hand on each side. A white aura of light began to glow around her. Light shot out from her hands and hit the Angelpuss and the Ixi, causing the same white aura to appear around them.

After a moment, the Angelpuss began to change. Its halo disappeared. Its fur turned yellow. The eyes changed to a fuchsia color. Small horns grew out of its head, and its feet turned to hooves, as its tail changed and wings disappeared. It grew. By the end of the transformation, it had become a yellow Ixi.

At the same time, Fyora began a transformation. Her crown vanished, and her faerie wings shrank into her back. The long armbands on her arms migrated to her hands, wrapped themselves around them, and became hooves. Horns grew out of her head. Her eyes changed color. Her dress split in half and wrapped around her legs, then became blue fur with white cloud shapes in it. The fur spread up throughout the rest of her body, as her hair shrank into her head and her ears grew and moved to the top of her head. As her face changed shape, she shrank. When it was finished, she had become a cloud Ixi.

Sunskyes was the last to shape shift. She grew. Her legs became longer and stronger, enabling her to stand on her hind legs. The back hooves became human feet, as the front hooves became human hands. Her tail shrank, and the horns retreated inside her head. Her ears became smaller and lowered. Her face flattened into a human face. The yellow fur retreated up her body and became her hair, turning lavender. A lavender, sleeveless dress appeared on her, as did matching armbands along her arms. A crown appeared on her head, and lavender faerie wings blossomed out of her back. When her transformation was complete, she had become Fyora, the Faerie Queen. The three of them then stopped glowing.

"Whoa, what's going on?" questioned a very confused Luna.

"My name is Fyora, Queen of the Faeries," answered the one who had previously been Sunskyes.

"I am the Sunskyes of this time," said the cloud Ixi.

"And I am the original Sunskyes... the one from your own time... or, whatever..." said the yellow Ixi.

"Um, ok..." began Lil, "So... the Angelpuss is really our Sun, the Faerie Queen is really your Sun, and Sun is really the Faerie Queen? Suddenly I have a headache."

"How did all this happen?" asked Spritzie.

"When the Great War began, I gave Sunskyes - by then a cloud Ixi - some great powers," began Fyora - the real Faerie Queen, "I needed someone to be my ambassador and help in the war in Neopia - I was too busy dealing with the war here in Faerieland to be able to go below. And we were losing - both here and on the ground. So I picked someone from my Faerie Defense League - made up of my eight strongest and most loyal warriors - to be that ambassador and attempt to turn the tide in our favor. These eight were destined for greatness from birth - for reasons I cannot yet say because it is not yet time for you to know."

"I was the one whom she picked," said the future Sun, "She gave me powers similar and nearly equivalent to her own. By the time she decided to do this, Lunamercurie, Spritzieblue, and myself were the only three members of the League left. By the end of the war, it was evident that the Tri-Union would be the victors. So I took four rare items - a Mystery Island Paint Brush, a Mosaic Negg, a Pirate Paint Brush, and an Ultra Ice Negg - and endowed each with a special power, useless when separate, but when combined they would bring forth a great weapon which would allow its owner to destroy the Tri-Union. I then gave the items to Fyora for safekeeping. "

"Soon after," continued Fyora, "Jhudora, leader of the Darkness Faeries, and many of her followers, attacked, in an attempt to retrieve the items. They succeeded. Fearing for my life, Sunskyes came up with a plan I was hesitant to go along with. She would disguise herself as me, and disguise me as a common Neopian who would live on the ground."

"When Gryffin and I found ourselves in the future after running from Meuka," began the yellow Ixi, "the Faerie Queen recognized who we were and what our futures would hold, so she brought us here. She and my future self explained to us what was going on, and what would happen. With my permission, they then copied and transferred my memories to Fyora, and disguised her as me, then disguised me as a pet Angelpuss. They sent the battle faerie to save you from Meuka - since the sorceress is my future self, she knew that you would come searching for me - and lure you through the portal to the future. She then went back to the Haunted Fairgrounds with Gryffin, where you found them."

"You knew about this the whole time?" Chibi said, looking at Gryffin. Gryffin nodded sheepishly.

"But why did you do all that?" asked Luna.

"I came with you, because you needed someone who knew the future with you to be absolutely sure you were who we thought you were," answered Fyora. "I chose to use my true power with the Monocerous because by then all four items had been recovered, and I knew that you were the ones."

"If you were powerful enough to make those items, why couldn't you just combine them and use them yourself?" asked Chibi.

"When Fyora gave me my powers," began the future Sunskyes, "she wanted to be sure I could not become any more powerful than what she allowed, in case I be forced over to the side of evil in some way. Therefore, she put a spell on me that would cause me to die if I tried to gain any new powers without her knowledge or permission."

"And what about pulling me through the mirror?" asked Spritzie, "Why didn't you just do that with the items themselves and combine them for the Faerie Queen to use?"

"Because we knew you would be coming," said Fyora, "And we knew that you were the eight destined to fulfill the Prophecy. We also knew that Sunskyes alone would not be able to harness the power of the combined objects - even though she is the one who can combine them, because of my imposed limitations, she can't actually use their power. And we also knew that the Tri-Union would also never be able to do anything with them because they didn't have Sunskyes. Besides, I would have the weapon, and it could make me more powerful, but even though I am very powerful, I can't do everything. Even with my strength, it would be outlandish to think that I could single-handedly defeat the Tri-Union. Even if I could, it would take all of my strength and kill me. I can possibly help, but it takes a team of determined, brave warriors to win a war."

"And now, I believe it is time to finally combine the items and harness their power," said the cloud Ixi. She raised her head, looked up, and concentrated. The four items appeared in the air above her, levitating, in a diamond shape.

"Fire!" she called out. As she said this, the Mosaic Negg glowed fiery red.

"Earth!" she shouted. As she said this, the Mystery Island Paint Brush glowed a deep green.

"Water!" she cried out, as the Pirate Paint Brush began to glow aquamarine blue.

"Air!" she cried out, and the Ultra Ice Negg began glowing a beautiful sky blue.

"Light!" the sorceress cried out. She herself then began to glow a brilliant white. Beams of light shot out from each of the five - the four objects plus the sorceress - and intertwined above them, forming a tall, glowing rod. The sorceress and the objects then stopped glowing, and the objects fell to the ground, now once again ordinary Neggs and Paint Brushes. The rod stopped glowing, and fell into Fyora's open hand. It was tall, Fyora's height, and golden. On the tip was a golden, eight-pointed star.

"And now, I will use this weapon, which I will call, the Rod of Light, to bestow upon you eight, powers no Neopian has ever known," said Fyora. "Chibimartian and Lilbasketballbabe will have the element of Fire. Chibimartian, I give you the power to control and create fires. Lilbasketballbabe, I give you the ability to control temperatures, making it hotter or colder at will. Gryffinstormie and EmeraldMount, you have the element of Earth. Gryffinstormie will be able to control animals, and shape shift, while EmeraldMount will control the land, and its plants. Lunamercurie and Spritzieblue will have power over Water. Lunamercurie will control water in its solid and liquid forms, and Spritzieblue will be able to use water in its gaseous forms to create shields and heal people. Gryffinstormie and Koorite will control Air; Gryffinstormie will be able to control the weather, and Koorite will have extreme speed and the ability of invisibility. And Sunskyes will have the power over Light, making it dark and light at will."

After she said this, Fyora aimed her Rod at the eight Neopians. They glowed for a second, and then when they dimmed, they looked different. Chibi was now black, with a flame red mane, fiery orange tail, and yellow flame patterns on his hooves. Lil's feet were now black, and she had red, orange, and yellow streaked fur. Gryffin was now white, with a green fur around his neck. Emerald was now green, with white stripes. Luna was aqua blue, with her stripes being lighter blue and wave-patterned. Spritzie was also aqua blue, with a bubble pattern running up along her legs. Koorite was completely white. Sun was now white, with rainbow-colored streaks running up her legs, and a rainbow-colored tail. Her eyes were also rainbow-colored.

"Now, time for bed," declared Fyora. The group turned to head back to their rooms.

"One more question," started Spritzie. "How can both Suns be here at the same time?"

"We never did touch each other nor have physical contact," answered the cloud Ixi.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," said Spritzie.

"Now, off to bed," Fyora said, gesturing towards the hallway.

"Goodnight," Spritzie said as she turned around.

_The eight have received great new powers, and learned the strangest information ever. Now all that is left is to confront the Tri-Union itself... _


	14. Practice

**Part Fourteen:**

_Now all that needs to be done is to confront the Tri-Union. But first, they must learn to control their powers... _

They all walked back to their room. They look turns looking in the mirrors. They were all in awe. Exclaimed Lil, "We all look so different!"

Luna walked over to Sun, "Wow, you look awesome, Sun!"

Chibi noticed Spritzie sitting in the corner, staring silently into the air. He walked over to her. "What's wrong, Spritz?" He asked.

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking."

"About what?" Sun asked, as they all joined them.

"The Tri-Union. We may have more powers now, but we don't know how they work or how to use them. We don't really stand a chance against them."

"All we have to do is learn about our powers," Gryffin stated.

"We should probably go somewhere and practice and get used to them. Then if we work together, we can defeat the Tri-Union once and for all," Luna added.

"Good idea, Luna," Chibi replied.

"We should go first thing in the morning," Lil added.

"Then we better get some rest," Spritzie informed the group.

They all agreed, said good night, and climbed into bed.

The next morning, Chibi awoke first. He got ready for the day and then he woke up the others. They got out of bed feeling unusually rested. When they were all ready, they all looked at each other. "So… where are we going to go?" Lil asked.

"It doesn't really matter," Replied Gryffin.

"We can't be near any other Neopians, we don't want to risk someone's life by making a mistake," Luna responded.

"Well, then we just go out in the woods somewhere," Chibi stated simply.

"Chibi, that won't work," Sun answered.

"Why not?" He asked defensively.

"Chibi, your powers involve fire, we can't be near trees," Koorite informed him.

Exasperated, Chibi sighed, "There's not a single place where we can go."

They all looked at Spritzie. "What?" She asked, surprised that they looked at her.

Everyone shrugged. "So, what do we do?" Emerald asked.

"Why don't we go to Fyora? She's sure to know what to do," Spritzie added.

Everyone laughed. "What?" She asked.

"We knew you'd come through for us, Spritzie," Chibi smiled.

"Oh, whatever," She replied, laughing it off.

She opened the door and headed down the hallway. The others quickly followed. They headed straight for the throne room. When they arrived, they stood in front of the large golden doors. "Wow!" Lil exclaimed, "I never noticed how tall these doors were."

"They're not that tall," Koorite snickered, "You're just that short."

"Yeah? Well, you're…"

"Lil! Koorite! Stop it!" Spritzie snapped, "We're outside her throne room… must you carry on like that here?"

They both looked at the ground. "Ok, now let's go talk to her."

She raised her hand to knock, but the doors opened just before her hand reached the door. Fyora was sitting on her throne, watching the doors intently. She smiled when she saw them. "Come in, I've been expecting you."

They slowly entered. "Good morning. I hope you all slept well," She smiled, greeting them.

"Yes, Fyora, we all slept very well," Luna replied politely.

"Excellent. Now… is there something I can help you with?"

"We were thinking about going somewhere where we can get familiar with our new powers," Sun informed her shyly.

"I think that is a fantastic idea."

"But…" Emerald started.

"Yes? Is something wrong?" She asked.

"We don't know where to go. The only place we can go where we won't be putting any Neopians at risk while learning, is the woods," Spritzie said, stepping forward.

"But my powers involve fire, and I can't use fire near all the trees," Chibi added.

"Hmmm, yes… I can see your dilemma."

"So, we were hoping you would be able to help us in some way," Gryffin quietly concluded.

Fyora silently studied them. Finally, she spoke. "I believe I have a solution."

They all followed her as she walked through the winding hallways. Soon, they came to the end of the hallway. Before them was a large, white brick wall. They all wondered what she was going to do. She took her finger and traced a large rectangle on the wall. She stepped back and they all watched as a door appeared on what used to be a solid wall. They gasped. She looked at them. "On the other side of this door is where you will be able to experiment with your new powers. The damage you see, will not be permanent. Everything will be restored to its original condition. But I must caution you, be careful with your powers. Accidents will happen. You might accidentally affect one another with your powers in a negative manner. There will be no serious injuries, but you must learn to avoid this because this will not be the case when you're fighting the Tri-Union. You must also learn to use your powers to aid one another, for this will be very important when you fight them."

With that, she gestured towards the door. They stood still. Chibi finally stepped forward and pulled the door open. He held the door open and looked at the rest of his friends. They all hesitated. Finally Spritzie stepped forward and walked through the door. The others followed. After everyone had passed through, Chibi looked at Fyora. She smiled and nodded. Chibi smiles, walked through, and closed the door. They looked around as they stepped through the door. They saw a flourishing forest. "Where are we" Luna asked, looking around.

"Yeah," Chibi added, "None of Neopia looks like this anymore."

"Maybe…" Luna started, "Well… I'm not sure."

"Maybe where we are doesn't really exist," Gryffin added.

"Ha, yeah right, Gryffin. We're obviously just outside that wall. Fyora only created a door to outside," Chibi replied.

"No, I think Gryffin is right," Lil commented, "No where looks like this, especially in Faerie Land."

"Then what do you think all this is, Lil?" Koorite asked sarcastically.

"Maybe it's some sort of…" Lil paused.

"Hologram," Gryffin finished.

"Or mirage," Added Lil.

"Well, then, in that case, I should be able to walk right through this tree," Koorite replied as he started towards a near-by tree.

"Koorite that might not be a good…"

Spritzie was interrupted by a loud noise. "Owww," Koorite said, rubbing his nose.

Everyone laughed. "Well, there goes the hologram theory," Gryffin laughed.

"So if everything is real, then…" Chibi started.

"I'm so confused," Luna stated.

"Maybe I can help," Said a soft voice from behind them.

They all turned around. They saw a blue Uni standing behind them. She smiled sweetly. "Hello," She said, stepping closer to them.

She looked down shyly. She spoke quietly. "I'm sorry," She laughed nervously, "I never thought I would see the day when you arrived or that I would get to meet you."

"Hello, I'm Luna," Said the blue Kougra.

"I'm Emerald."

"I'm Gryffinstormie."

"My name is Sunskyes."

"Hi, I'm Lil."

"I'm Koorite."

"My name is Spritzie."

"And I'm ChibiMartian," He said, stepping in front of Spritzie, "But you can call me Chibi."

The blue Uni smiled. "It's great to meet all of you. I'm Tizora."

Spritzie pushed Chibi aside, "Tizora, what can you tell us about where we are?"

"Well," She started, "You are, in fact, just outside the palace walls."

"So I was right?" Chibi asked.

"Kind of," She replied.

"We're in a sort of bubble. It's enclosed, like a biosphere, so none of the changes you create will affect the rest of Faerie Land."

"A biosphere?" Emerald asked, looking around, "Cool. I've read about these."

"Yes, but in a way, Gryffin and Lil were right. From the outside, this isn't visible. Neopians can enter into the space with no idea that this even exists."

"So, we're here, but to anyone else, we're not?" Emerald asked.

"Yes," Tizora replied.

"That's complicated," Koorite said finally.

"Wow, I guess there really isn't an end to Fyora's powers," Lil exclaimed.

"Yeah, she is… well… was, the most powerful in all of Neopia," Having said that, she got quiet.

"Don't you worry, Tizora. We're gonna take care of everything," Chibi said confidently.

Tizora smiled faintly. Changing the subject, Luna asked, "Tizora, what are you doing here?"

"I… well…" She hesitated.

They looked at her anxiously. "I was personally chosen by Fyora to serve as a guide for the Faerie Defense League."

"Why you?" Gryffin asked.

"Gryffin!" Chibi exclaimed.

"Sorry," Gryffin said quietly.

Tizora laughed, "It's ok, Chibi. I've asked the exact same question myself, many times. And I'm still waiting for the answer. I was chosen, shortly after my birth, for reasons unknown to me. I was born shortly before the break out of the Great War. I was taken to Fyora's palace where I was hidden away and raised. I was taught about you and your mission. I was also taught about your powers, so I could serve as a guide for you, through using them. So that is why I am here."

They stood still, staring at her in shock. "Wow!" Sun exclaimed.

"That's incredible," Emerald stated.

Tizora smiled, "After all the time I spent studying about you… I finally get to meet you. You would not believe what an honor this is."

A tear fell from her eyes. "Well," She said wiping her cheek, "We have some practicing to do."

Everyone laughed. "Let's get to work," Spritzie said strongly.

Tizora divided them up. She would work with one at a time. First she worked with Chibi. She took him aside and explained the importance of his power, after which, she told him how to use it. "The key to your power is in your horn. Use your horn to aim where you want to create the fire, then concentrate on starting it. And with your mind, you will be able to control the fires. Try it. Aim for that small group of trees in front of us."

The rest of the group watched. Chibi aimed his horn at the group of trees. He concentrated on starting the fire. His horn began to glow and fire shot out and started at the trees. The fire quickly grew to large proportions. "Chibi, now concentrate on making it smaller."

The others watched in amazement. As the size of the fire decreased until the fire was out. Chibi's horn then quit glowing. "Good job, Chibi," Tizora commended.

"That's so cool!" Sun exclaimed.

Chibi smiled. Tizora turned to Lil. "Are you ready?" She asked.

"Yes," The little Jubjub said, stepping forward.

Tizora instructed her about her powers. "Lil, you'll have to use your mind to control the temperature. This will be difficult and draining. When fighting the Tri-Union, you must be careful not to over-exhaust yourself. Now, focus on raising the temperature. This will be much easier than lowering the temperature."

Lil focused on raising the temperature. The air heated up and it kept getting warmer and warmer. Finally, Tizora stopped her. "Good, Lil. Now cool the air down."

Lil focused. Slowly the temperature cooled down. When it got near the regular temperature, Tizora stopped her.

"Very good," Applauded Tizora.

Then, she continued working with the others, until the end of the day.

_Tizora seems to be a very good teacher, and knows much about their powers. But will it be enough?_


	15. Death of the Giant

**Part Fifteen:**

_The eight trained with Tizora for two months, learning to control and effectively harness the powers given to them by Fyora and the Sorceress, Sun's future self. Now, finally, the day comes to use those powers for real... _

The group, plus Tizora, had just finished breakfast one morning when Fyora approached them.

"It is time," she announced, "Time for you to confront the first faction of the Tri-Union, the Monoceraptor and his Grarrl warriors."

"What!" cried out Spritzie, "That's impossible!"

"Eight of us, against an entire army _and _the Monoceraptor?" despaired Sun, "But how?"

"It won't be just the eight of you," replied Fyora, "You will have your powers, and Tizora will be going with you. Though she has no powers, she does know the strengths and weaknesses of yours, and knows many techniques for physical battle. And two days ago I sent messengers out to summon any rebel camps -- Neopians who actively rebel against the Tri-Union whenever possible -- and they should already be on their way there as we speak."

"Do you really think we can do this?" questioned Lil nervously.

"I have no doubt," replied the Faerie Queen, "I am afraid I can no longer help you on your mission, for now. This war is your destiny, the reason you were brought to the future. But when the time comes, you will see me again. Goodbye, and good luck!"

With a wave of the Faerie Queen's hand, the nine were no longer in the Palace, but on Tyrannia.

"Well, this place hasn't changed much," sulked Chibi. All around them, the land was mostly bare of vegetation. Volcanoes dotted the land in various places.

"Why is that volcano guarded?" Lil asked, looking at an especially large volcano. It was guarded by a large group of Grarrl warriors.

"Well, if it's guarded, that must be where we need to go," commented Luna.

"Ok, I think I have a plan," Spritzie began, "Sun, make it dark so it's hard for the guards to see. Then Koorite can go invisible and use his speed to attack, and Gryffin can go up and use the weather."

"Ok," answered Sun. She looked up at the sky and concentrated. Soon, the sky grew dark. "Can you guys still see to do your parts?" she added.

"I can," answered Gryffin, as he flew into the sky.

"No problem here," replied Koorite.With that, he went invisible and sped off to the Grarrl warriors at the volcano. With his lightning speed and invisibility, several guards were baffled as painful slashes suddenly appeared on them.

Gryffin concentrated, and massive clouds appeared in the sky. Suddenly, lightning bolts appeared, and struck some of the Grarrl guards. They collapsed, unconscious.

"Ok, Sun, make it light again, so we can see," commanded Spritzie. As Sun obeyed, the sky grew only slightly lighter, as it was still covered by Gryffin's clouds. The group saw as a Grarrl warrior struggled inside the mouth of the volcano. Within minutes, three very large Grarrl Battlemasters appeared at the rim. One roared loudly. With that, they ran down the volcano, an army of Grarrls behind them.

As the Grarrls approached, the Neopians fought, clawing, using their powers, everything they could. Then, a group of Pteris joined the battle. Chibi, Spritzie and Tizora flew into the air, and with Gryffin, they fought the Pteris. Using her powers, Lil lowered the temperature slightly, to slow down the reptiles.

"Where did the Pteris come from!" exclaimed Spritzie.

"They must have heard the battle, and come to help!" answered Gryffin.

"It's no use!" cried out Luna, on the ground, as she took down another Grarrl. "We're too outnumbered!" Suddenly, an incredibly large rock fell from the air and landed on one of the three Battlemasters, a few feet from Luna. Luna looked in the direction the rock had come from. There, approaching in the horizon, pulling homemade canons and other weapons, was a large group of Neopians of all kinds, led by three Battle faeries. One of the Battle faeries approached her.

"Warriors!" exclaimed the Battle faerie, "I, and my Battle faerie sisters, bring to you the rebel factions of Neopia, at your service!"

"Help is here!" cried out Luna to the others. Before long, the battle began to turn in their favor.

"Sun, behind you!" Chibi cried out from the air, as a second Battlemaster reared back, preparing to swallow the Ixi whole. Chibi concentrated. His horn glowed, and then suddenly, the Battlemaster burst into flames. It stumbled around, roaring in defeat, before collapsing.

"Emerald, watch it!" called out Luna, as he was taking down another Grarrl. Emerald turned behind him, and before he could react, the third Grarrl Battlemaster had knocked him down, and had placed his foot firmly, but loosely, on the Kougra, holding him in place. The Kougra roared angrily. The Battlemaster roared triumphantly.

"Hold on, Emerald!" cried out Luna. She started to run toward the Battlemaster, but three warriors appeared and blocked her path.

"Luna!" cried out Emerald.

"I'm coming!" answered Luna, fighting to try to get past the Grarrls. Every time she defeated one, another would replace it. It was almost as though they were trying to keep her away from the Battlemaster and Emerald.

"No!" Emerald cried out to her, "Don't try to take on a Battlemaster by yourself! I've got to be the one to stop him, I can do it!"

"Don't be an idiot!" cried out Luna, "You can't stop him alone any better than I can!"

"Yes I can, I have to!" answered Emerald. He paused for just a second.

"I just want you to know that I'm sorry..." he said to Luna sadly, "I'm sorry you and I couldn't have... had more time... more time to... to become closer than what we did..." his voice trailed off.

"What?" questioned Luna, swiping again at another Grarrl. "What are you saying, Emerald?"

"Goodbye, Luna!" Emerald shouted to Luna. He looked at the Battlemaster.

"If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!" cried out Emerald. He concentrated. Suddenly, from all around them, towers of rock shot up around them, forming a rock circle. The rocks then slid together, forming a many-layered tomb, trapping Emerald and the Battlemaster inside. There was a roar from within the tomb. Then another. Then silence.

"No! Emerald!" cried out Luna, as she took down the last of the Grarrls in her way. She ran up to the rock casing and tried to claw her way through, without success. A small, white light appeared at the top of the rock case, then floated up and entered Tizora's body.

"Emerald? Gone?" she questioned, a tear forming in her eye.

"What was that?" asked Spritzie, who was nearby, as she saw the light come up from the rock and into the blue Uni.

"Emerald. I think somehow his life force was absorbed into me," answered Tizora. "I think... I think he's..."

"No!" cried out Spritzie. She flew down to Luna, followed by Tizora. She stood there for a moment, then flew off, attacking every Grarrl she could find. "You freaks are gonna pay for killing my brother!" she cried out angrily. Luna, with renewed determination, followed Spritzie's example.

"Nobody takes someone I care about from me and gets away with it! This is for Emerald!" Luna cried with a roar, each time she defeated an opponent. "Ugh!"

Suddenly, there was a rumble. There was a loud roar. All the Grarrls and Pteris immediately began to retreat. All of the Neopets, Battle faeries and rebel factions included, assembled together. Chibi and Gryffin flew down to the group, and Spritzie rejoined them.

"What's going on?" questioned Lil, walking up to the rest of the group, "Where's Emerald? And why are the Grarrls and Pteris leaving? Did we win?"

"Emerald is dead," Luna said, tears in her eyes.

"And _he's_ the reason the Grarrls and Pteris are moving out," answered Chibi, looking at the volcano. Out of the mouth of the volcano, a monstrous creature had appeared. Almost as tall as the volcano itself. Thick, reptilian skin. Razor-sharp spikes along his back. Long, powerful teeth. Around his neck he wore a large golden, triangle-shaped pendant.

"The Monoceraptor!" exclaimed Lil.

"There's no way..." Tizora whispered in despair, "It's impossible..."

"I think I have an idea," said Gryffin, "I'll shapeshift into something his size. Make the fight more fair. While I'm fighting him physically, you guys throw your powers at him all you can, to try to weaken him."

"Ok," Spritzie said, "Be careful, though! We don't need to lose anyone else!"

After a moment, Gryffin began to change. His wings shrank into his back. His feathers and fur hardened with his skin into scales, and darkened to a midnight black color. Long claws erupted from his hind feet. His front feet became ten-fingered hands, each with a long claw protruding from it. His tail split in half, then split in half again, until he had three long tails, each with lacerating spikes on the ends. Long, sharp teeth grew in his mouth. He began to grow, and grow, until he was equal in height with the Monoceraptor. He stood erect.

The Monoceraptor saw his new opponent. "Hmm? A new creature in Neopia comes to fight me?" he questioned with a deep, booming voice, "Faerie work, perhaps? Is it possible that the Faerie Defense League has somehow reunited and become stronger?"

"That's right," said Gryffin, "New and Improved Heroes, at your service!"

"Hahaha..." laughed Monoceraptor, "Well, better get it over with. Hope you said a proper goodbye to your friends." Saliva dripping from his mouth, he prepared to charge.

As Monoceraptor charged, Gryffin sidestepped and swiped him with one of his tails. Bright red marks appeared on the place where the tail had connected with the Monoceraptor. Then, to Gryffin's amazement, the pendant around the monster's neck began to glow, and the wound almost immediately healed itself.

"What?" questioned a stunned Gryffin. The Monoceraptor, taking advantage of the confusion, used the claws on his tiny fingers to strike his opponent. Spritzie quickly sent some of the gaseous shield to heal Gryffin's wounds. Chibi sent a fireball at the Monoceraptor, but it simply bounced off of him and flew into the air.

"Argh, I don't believe this!" cried out Sun, "He seems to have some kind of power, to deflect our magic and heals him from physical injuries!"

"There's nothing we can do then," sulked Tizora, "There's no way to beat him." The group stood watching helplessly, both militia and Faerie Defense League, as Gryffin fought the Monoceraptor, with no success. As the battle wore on, Gryffin grew weaker and weaker, from fatigue and injury. The Monoceraptor, however, showed no signs of either. Everytime Gryffin injured the Monoceraptor, his pendant would glow, and the wounds would heal. Suddenly, the Monoceraptor attacked with such force that Gryffin was knocked to the ground.

"Now, it is over!" exclaimed a triumphant Monoceraptor as he stood over the fallen Gryffin, "The Tri-Union will never be threatened again!"

"No!" called out Luna. She sent out a thick blast of water at the Monoceraptor. Like Chibi's fireball, it reflected easily. Gryffin noticed the glowing pendant, and got an idea. With one of his ten-fingered hands, he reached up and grabbed the pendant around the Monoceraptor's neck.

"Argh!" Gryffin cried out in pain, as the power of the pendant, still glowing, sent massive jolts of electricity through his body. Combined with that, the Monoceraptor was swinging around like mad trying to pull Gryffin away.

"As soon as I get the pendant off, someone throw it into the volcano, or something!" cried out Gryffin, "The rest of you be ready to blast him with everything you can!"

Finally, after what seemed like ages, Gryffin managed to pull the necklace off of the Monoceraptor. Immediately, he threw it up into the air. Chibi caught it in his mouth, and started making his way to the nearest volcano. Gryffin fell to the ground, exhausted. The rest of the League and the rebels hit Monoceraptor with everything they could. This time, Monoceraptor felt the pain, and sustained the injuries. Struggling, Gryffin stood back up. With one last swipe of his tails and slash of his claws, Gryffin struck the Monoceraptor down. The battle was over, Monoceraptor defeated, laying lifelessly on the ground. Suddenly, Gryffin collapsed.

"Gryffin!" Sun cried out, as she and the others ran up to him.

"Hold on, Gryffin, I'm gonna use my power to heal you!" assured Spritzie.

"No," whispered a weak Gryffin, "Save your strength, you'll need it." With that, his eyes dulled, and his breathing stopped.

"Gryffin?" Sun questioned, tapping his still large body with her hoof, "Gryffin, wake up!"

Chibi returned, just as a small, white light left Gryffin's body and entered Tizora.

"Gryffin!" cried out Chibi, tears in his eyes. Luna walked up to him and hugged him.

"I am sorry for your friends who fell in the battle," one of the Battle Faeries said gently, "But now, you must go to the next faction, Dr. Sloth, in the space station."

"How do we get there?" questioned Spritzie, "Even Space Faeries couldn't get inside. " Suddenly, the ground started shaking. Lava and smoke burst out of the volcano that Chibi had thrown the pendant into.

"An eruption!" exclaimed the Battle Faerie, "But this is no ordinary volcanic eruption! It must have been set off by the power of the pendant! This one will wipe out the entire region. You must get out of here, and get to Dr. Sloth's, quick!" she pointed in the direction of the volcano from which Monoceraptor had emerged. Out of it came a small spaceship. It was plain, metallic in color. It was oval-shaped, with a diamond-shaped object on the top. It flew on its own until it was directly above them, high in the sky. A hole appeared in the bottom.

"The ship is very easy to learn how to work," one of the other Battle Faeries said, "On it is a device which can disable Sloth's defense systems and allow you to board his space station. It will be dangerous, but have faith! Good luck! Now, go!"

At that, Spritzie grabbed Luna, Lil got on Tizora's back, and Sun got on Chibi's back, and they flew up, towards the spaceship.

"Wait!" Lil said, "I have to stop that volcano!"

"How?" questioned Tizora.

"If I can lower the temperature enough, maybe I can cool the lava enough to harden it," Lil answered. "If I don't try, it'll kill everyone alive."

"That's crazy!" Spritzie argued.

"I _have _to at least try!" Lil argued, "Tizora, will you take me to just above the volcano?"

Reluctantly, Tizora flew Lil to the volcano, as the others went inside the ship and waited. Lil and Tizora hovered just above, in an area where the smoke was not as thick. Lil closed her eyes and concentrated. Soon, the lava cooled and hardened very rapidly, but at the same time, more lava was still coming out.

"This isn't working," Lil said, "There's only one way I can think of. I'm going to jump into the volcano and cool it from within."

"No!" Tizora protested, "You'll be incinerated before you get the chance!"

"I'm already approaching my peak amount of power, I can feel it," Lil answered, "By the time I hit the inside, I will have built up enough strength to cool it almost immediately. That much power, should release not only in the area of lava I land in, but it should stretch the power out throughout the volcano, making it dormant again."

Lil looked up at the hovering spaceship, tears forming in her eyes.

"Tell everyone goodbye for me!" she said quickly. Before Tizora could react, Lil jumped off her back and into the active volcano.

"Lil, no!" Tizora cried out, too late, as she saw Lil enter the volcano. A few minutes later, even as the lava was coming out, it was cooling and solidifying. Within a matter of minutes, the volcano was dormant again.

"Goodbye, Lil," whispered Tizora, as a small, white light came out of the volcano and into Tizora. As Tizora felt Lil's life force enter her, she flew up and into the spaceship with the rest of the group.

_The group has defeated the first division of the Tri-Union, but at a horrible cost. Will they be strong enough to defeat Sloth? Who will be next?_


End file.
